The Fox and the Lioness: A Naruto FanFiction
by KittyKatChan96
Summary: Mostly non-canon. The story takes place after Naruto has come back from training with Jiraiya. Three years have gone by, and with it, many of his old friends have changed. Especially a certain Hyuuga heiress. After their first encounter in ages, things seem to change between them. A new mission changes everything, not only for them, but their teammates. Is it for the good, or bad?
1. Uzumaki Naruto has Returned

**So, this is my first FanFic ever. I decided to go with NaruHina. It isn't that "romancey" yet, but just wait, it will be in later chapters.**

**Please review, I would love the feedback. Thanks, and enjoy!**

**XXXXXXX**

Naruto walked through the gates of Konoha with Jiraiya for the first time in three years. He was excited to finally be back after so long. He had trained so hard on his travels with his mentor, Jiraiya, that he tore his old outfit to shreds. His new attire consisted of his usual trademark orange, but with black adorning his shoulders and lining the zipper of his jacket. His old, blue Konoha forehead protector was now replaced with a black one. Now he finally returned, grown up and matured. Well, for the most part. He hopped up onto a tall post and looked down over the village, feeling nostalgic.

"This brings back memories! This place hasn't changed at all!" Naruto thought out loud. Suddenly, as if the entire village was listening to him, he exclaimed, "Everyone, Uzumaki Naruto has returned!" He continued to scan the area, until his eyes set on the mountain in which the Hokage's faces were carved. That's when he noticed the new addition. "They added Tsunade Baa-chan's face to the mountain!" Suddenly he heard a familiar voice from below the post.

"Naruto? Naruto, is it you?" He looked down to see Sakura, Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi. "When did you get back, Naruto?" Sakura asked. "Just now!" Naruto replied before jumping down from the tall post to be reunited with his old teammate. "It's been a while, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, a big grin plastered on his face. That's when Sakura began to notice how much he changed. "You're taller than me now, aren't you?" she stated, more in disbelief than an actual question. Naruto then measured her head to his. "Huh. You're right."

Sakura blushed before asking Naruto, "What do you think? Am I more womanly now?" Naruto, totally clueless to what was the proper response, simply stated "It's fine. You haven't changed at all!" and gave Sakura a thumb-up and an even bigger grin. Everyone except Naruto just stood there, wondering if he was really that clueless. In Naruto's mind, that was a compliment. He had always thought Sakura was perfect, no matter how badly she treated him. So he didn't understand why she suddenly looked mad at him and turned her back to him.

"Naruto-niichan!" Naruto turned to find a puff of smoke encircling a fair-skinned, dark-haired woman staring at him seductively, the smoke just barely keeping her decent. Jiraiya's attention was immediately caught, as was everyone else's in the area. Suddenly, the woman poofed into smoke, and was replaced by Konohamaru. "How was that? Had some real 'oomph' to it, right?" the now-genin asked. Naruto laughed, leading Konohamaru to wonder what was going on. Naruto then replied, "Konohamaru, I'm not a kid anymore. So you shouldn't use techniques like that anymore, either." Everyone was silent for a moment, wondering what happened to their old, immature, annoying Naruto in the past three years to make him get so serious. That thought was shattered with the next thing to come out of Naruto's mouth.

"That technique is too weak! Behold, my newly developed perverted ninjutsu! Here I go!" Naruto yelled. Suddenly, a fist hurled at him, pounding into his face with superhuman strength and sending Naruto flying across the ground. "You idiot!" Sakura yelled. Everyone in the area was terrified of Sakura, and didn't want that anger directed at them. She then walked over to where the lower half of Naruto's body was sticking up out of the ground and yanked him out of there by the leg, then grabbed him by the collar and yelled at him angrily. "On the inside you haven't grown at all! Don't make me beat you senseless when I've only seen you for two minutes after not seeing you at all for three years! What about my sparkling admiration of you?! You should be sad!" She kept yelling on and on for a while. She had definitely picked up a trait or two from Tsunade in the past few years._"As I thought, Sakura-chan hasn't changed at all. Actually, I think she's become more violent than before."_ Naruto thought, while Sakura was still yelling and began to shake him.

Later, after Sakura finally stopped lecturing Naruto, he went to his apartment. It had gathered a considerable amount of dust while he had been gone, so he opened a few windows to let it air out. He grabbed his wallet and went back into the village. After three years, there was something he couldn't wait any longer to have. He walked through the streets of Konoha, waving at the occasional passerby that greeted him. Finally, he reached his destination. He sat down on a stool and gave an enthusiastic shout. "Oi! Old Man!" Teuchi turned around and nearly dropped a customer's bowl when he saw Naruto sitting in front of him, all grown up. "Naruto!" Teuchi exclaimed. "It's been so long! Ayame, look who it is!" Teuchi's daughter turned and froze in place, then suddenly shouted "Naruto-kun! Welcome back! You've grown so much!" Naruto sat there grinning. He was loving the attention everyone was giving him today. "You really think so?" he asked Ayame. "Definitely!" she replied, blushing a bit. Teuchi cut in, "Great to have you back, Naruto, what can I get you? It's on me!" Naruto could hardly believe his ears. "You mean it, Old Man? All right! Hmm, what should I get...Oh! Get me three miso ramen, extra chashu!" Everyone laughed. His taste sure didn't change, nor did his appetite. "You got it. Coming right up!"

Naruto was trapped in his own little world, thinking about the delicious ramen he would soon devour. So he didn't notice when Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji yelled and ran at him. Or rather, Ino and Chouji, while Shikamaru lazily strolled over to the crowd. Chouji was the first to say something. "Oi, Naruto! You have time to go to Ichiraku, but you don't have time to say hello to your friends?" Naruto stared at him blankly, wondering if he was really serious. "I'm kidding, Naruto! Though, you could have invited me for some ramen...But it's okay!" Ino suddenly interrupted. "Naruto! How long have you been back? Where did you go? Did you get to-" Shikamaru finally cut in. "Oi. Would you two give him a break? The guy just got back, and is probably waiting to enjoy his food in peace for the first time in a while. Geez, you two are so troublesome..."

"It's all right, Shikamaru, really." Naruto stated. Teuchi chose that moment to place the first bowl in front of Naruto. Naruto shifted his attention to his ramen, grabbed his chopsticks, and prepared to dig into the glorious ramen from Ichiraku for the first time in years. He broke his chopsticks, shouted "Itadakimasu!" and then proceeded to dig into his meal. Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and everyone else there could do nothing but just watch in happiness and slight horror as Naruto scarfed down his miso ramen with what seemed to be inhumanly fast speed. How he was not hurling his guts onto the floor, nobody could figure out. Within two minutes, he was asking for his next bowl. This snapped everyone out of their daze. "Another bowl!" Teuchi shouted back at the cooks.

Everyone ended up sitting down and ordering their own bowls, chatting with Naruto about his trip and the stuff he did. After about an hour, everyone decided to leave and do other things with their day. Chouji and Shikamaru went to go cloud-watching. Ino went back to the flower shop. Naruto started aimlessly walking through the village. Here and there, he would notice a few changes, such as a new shop. But for the most part, everything was the same. Before he knew it, Naruto somehow ended up in front of the Academy. He sat on the old swing hanging in the tree. It was like yesterday that he was sitting in the exact same spot, all alone and sad, while everyone in his class was being picked up by their parents. Everyone except him. The swing he was now sitting on used to be a symbol or sadness and loneliness. Now that was just a memory.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a giant, white, growling creature pouncing on him, making him fall out of the swing and onto the ground with a loud thud. He prepared to attack when the animal lunged for his face, but stopped when he realized it was just licking him. Closer observation revealed it to be a very large white dog. "Now, now, no need to get so defensive, Naruto! Surely you didn't think Akamaru was trying to kill you?" shouted a laughing Kiba. Naruto couldn't understand what was so funny, since he wasn't the one being nearly devoured by a giant animal. "Kiba, call this creature off me!" Akamaru then whined, hurt by being called a "creature". Kiba called Akamaru over to him, and the giant canine sprinted over to him. Naruto sat up, carefully studying the dog. What he said next was the result of two minutes of silent observation.

"Kiba, your dog is freaking huge! What the hell happened?" Kiba looked at Naruto, then back to Akamaru, not getting what he meant. "What are you talking about?" he asked Naruto. Naruto couldn't believe he didn't know what he meant. "What am I talking about? Akamaru must have grown fifty times his size!" Kiba then stared blankly at him, completely clueless. "Really? I hadn't noticed." he replied. Naruto was about to reply, when he felt a creepy chill coming from behind him. He turned around, and jumped back about ten feet. Behind where he previously sat was a hooded, masked figure, with shades over his eyes, standing in the tree's shadow.

"It's been quite some time, Naruto." The figure stepped out from the shadows to stand a couple feet away. Naruto pointed, yelling "Who the hell are you?!" His arm started shaking more and more, along with the rest of his body, the closer the figure walked towards him. He didn't understand why Kiba seemed to be so calm. Why wasn't he attacking? The figure calmly replied "It's me." Naruto stopped shaking and moved a bit closer, trying to figure out who it was. He stared only a few inches away from his face, examining to see if he looked familiar. A beetle slowly flew out of his hood. "Oh! You're um...You're...Uh...Who are you again?" The figure sighed. "Even if it's been a while, you should remember your comrades' faces. You may hurt their feelings, otherwise." Naruto squinted his eyes. _"That annoying way of talking..."_ he thought to himself. Suddenly he got it. "You must be...Shino!"

"So you finally remembered?" Shino said, with slight disappointment. "Nobody's going to recognize you with your face all covered up, Shino." Kiba interjected. Shino sighed, even more disappointed. Then Naruto realized someone was missing. "Oi, Kiba, where's Hinata-chan?"

XXXXXXX

Hinata walked around the streets of Konoha searching for Shino or Kiba. But she was having no luck at all. _"Where could they be?"_ she thought to herself. She looked up at the rooftops of the buildings around her, bored out of her mind. She stopped when she realized she was standing in front of Naruto's apartment. She had made a bit of a habit of ending up there ever since he left with Jiraiya to go train. She wished he would return soon. If only she weren't so shy, she could have told him how she felt about him before he left. But she was, and she didn't. She often wondered if he thought about her while he was away, but then brushed the thought aside, thinking there was no way he'd be thinking about her. _"He loves Sakura-chan, and she's so pretty, why would he waste his time thinking about me?"_ she thought to herself, sadly. She then kept on walking towards the Academy. As she walked along, someone whistled at her. She had learned to ignore it by this point, at least mostly. She always gained a bright red blush.

Over the past few years, Hinata grew up in many different ways. Her long, dark blue hair now covered most of her back. Her breasts grew tremendously, going from a B-cup, all the way to a DD-cup. Even with her baggy coat on, there was no hiding them. Not only that, but she became very curvy all over her entire body. Her endlessly long legs gracefully moved, entrancingly. The Hyuuga heiress was a complete knockout. Everybody wanted her. Except Hinata didn't care about that. She only wanted one man to want her that way. And she had no idea when he would return.

She turned the corner to the Academy building. There, she saw Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru together. They were with an unknown person wearing an orange tracksuit. That should have set off her radar, but for some reason it didn't. She noticed Shino seemed to be upset about something, which seemed odd to her, because he usually was very calm and nearly emotionless. Her attention was turned back to the stranger. He had a forehead protector on, so he was most likely a ninja. Something about him seemed very familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. A breeze blew by, making his blonde hair flow wildly. _"Blonde hair? Orange track suit? Could it be?!"_ Hinata thought, hoping so badly that it was really Naruto. She was now close enough that she could hear bits of what was being said. Which is why she suddenly gasped when she heard the orange-clad figure say her name. The normally graceful kunoichi then proceeded to blush profusely and fall backwards onto the ground, unconcious.

XXXXXXX

Naruto heard a faint, high pitched gasping sound, and turned around to see Hinata staring back at him for a second, her face bright red. He then saw her eyes roll back, and she fell to the ground.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, worriedly. He then sprinted as fast as he could to her. He started to lift her so her back would rest propped up onto his lap. That's when he noticed she had become a bit heavier. He knew she had probably grown, but why would she weigh that much. His question was soon answered when he noticed her chest moving up and down as she breathed deeply in her unconscious state. _"Where the hell did those massive things come from? I mean...not that I'm complaining..."_ Naruto thought to himself. He slowly took in her body, and how greatly she had changed. She no longer looked like a little girl. She looked like an elegant, poised, beautiful woman. And lying there unconscious, she looked like the embodiment of perfection and beauty. Her pale cheeks had a slight rosy tone to them left over. Naruto thought she looked stunning.

_"Wow. So much has happened since I've been gone. When did that awkward little girl become this beautiful woman in front of me? What else have I missed?" _Hinata stirred a little, snuggling against Naruto's stomach. "Naruto-kun..." She moaned in her sleep. _"Did she just moan my name? What the hell is going on? And why do I find this so cute?"_ Naruto was so confused. Hinata moaned in her sleep again, but this time Naruto found it more arousing than cute. _"Is she having a sex dream about me? Innocent little Hinata-chan having a sex dream? Uh-oh. Red alert. I have to wake her up quick. This is getting a bit too arousing." _ But before Naruto could do anything, he felt the crotch of his pants tighted against him as his member hardened in his lap, right where Hinata's head was lying.

_"Crap! Now what do I do? If I wake her up, everybody will notice. But if I don't she'll just keep turning me on! There has to be a way out of this, but what?!"_ As if on cue, Naruto and everybody else looked up to see a green-clad person quickly approaching them all. "Naruto-kun!" yelled the guy. Everybody all had the same thought. _"Oh. Crap."_

Rock Lee suddenly burst into the area, leaving a trailing cloud of dust behind him. "Naruto-kun!" Lee yelled once again, "Welcome back! After three years you must have trained hard enough to become ten times as strong as before!" Lee then struck a fighting pose, motioning with his hand to come at him. "Please fight me, Naruto-kun!" Everyone was quiet, each having a little sweat-drop moment, while also waiting for Naruto's response. "I, uh..." Naruto didn't know how to respond. This isn't exactly what he had in mind, but he silently thanked Lee for bursting in when he did. His arousal quickly dissipated, and Hinata was stirring awake from all the noise.

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata sleepily questioned. "Ah, Hinata-chan! You had me worried for a moment! Are you all right? What happened?" Naruto questioned profusely, doing what he could to get the subject away from sparring with Lee. Hinata began blushing again, while trying to think of an explanation. "Oh, I-I, eto, I was w-walking a-a-and, I...Um..." She just couldn't get the words out. She had thought she was past the stuttering, but apparently she was wrong. She wished she had a distraction so she could calm herself. Suddenly, as if Lee could read minds today, he interrupted again, prodding Naruto for an answer. "Naruto-kun! Fight me, now!"

Naruto suddenly got an idea. "Oi, Fuzzy Eyebrows, how about a challenge instead?" Lee stared at him for a moment. "What kind of challenge?" Naruto smirked, quite proud of himself for this idea. "On top of the Hokage Mountain, there is a small rock, scattered among the other rocks. It has a unique shape, like a star. If you can find that exact rock before sunset, I will fight you. What do you-" Before Naruto could even finish, Lee was already running at full speed towards the Hokage Mountain. _"Well, that'll buy me some time."_ He thought to himself. Everyone just stared at him in disbelief. Was that really all it took to get rid of Lee?

Naruto then turned his attention to Hinata. "Sorry about that, Hina-chan, what were you saying?" Hinata, thinking she had been saved from having to continue, looked at Naruto and slowly turned a bright crimson color. She began to open her mouth to try and say something, but then quickly lost consciousness again. Naruto began to panic when this happened, not used to her constant fainting after three years. He then decided to lift her unconscious body up off the ground, and he proceeded to carry her bridal style, as he made his way to Konoha Hospital. Nobody else knew what to say, they just stared at the two as they got further and further away.


	2. Mischief in the Hospital

**Well, here it is, Chapter 2 is out. Remember, it won't always be this quickly that a new chapter comes out, so please be patient with me in the future.  
****Also, now you see why this story is rated MATURE. There was a good reason for that. Parents, keep your kids away from this, because I am not responsible for their actions.  
****Other than that, please enjoy! (I do not own Naruto, or the characters involved. If I did, the relationships would be progressing a lot faster.)**

**XXXXXXX**

Naruto arrived at Konoha Hospital, carrying Hinata in his arms. She was still unconscious, face flushed, and every once in a while murmuring his name in her sleep. He tried to ignore it and focus on his task of getting her some medical attention. He walked through the doors, searching for a nurse to help Hinata. Finally, a nurse approached him, wondering what was going on.

"Can I help you, sir?" the nurse asked him.

Naruto turned to face her, a worried look on his face. When the nurse recognized the infamous shinobi, she was immediately taken aback at how much he changed. Her pale cheeks flushed a faint rose color, not expecting his sudden visit after so long. She fixed her short black hair nervously, not knowing what to do to relieve the awkwardness of the moment.

"Oh, it's you, Naruto-kun! I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you at first. You've grown a lot, and it's been so long without having you in here at least once every couple weeks. How may I help you? Are you injured?"

Naruto couldn't figure out why she was fidgiting so much and looked so embarrassed. He brushed it off and focused on his purpose for going to the hospital in the first place. He wanted to make sure Hinata was going to be all right.

"My friend here suddenly collapsed, more than once, and won't wake up. Can you help her?" Naruto asked the nurse.

The nurse then turned her attention to Hinata. She was still unconscious, and didn't look like she was going to be waking up anytime soon. Her face was lightly flushed, making the nurse think she might have a fever. She then turned to Naruto.

"Of course, Naruto-kun, I'll see her right away. Follow me to one of the empty rooms so she can lie down." she said to Naruto, getting more serious.

Naruto carried Hinata down the hallway with the nurse, entering a simple hospital room. The room was colored in a faint powder blue on the walls, with white linoleum covering the ground. A single bed with white sheets was towards the middle of the small room, a matching curtain a few feet away. On either side of the bed was a white end table. To the left of the bed was a large window, framing a view of Konoha in it. The room was pretty plain, but it had a peacful feeling to it.

Naruto laid Hinata carefully down on the bed. The nurse then walked over to Hinata, taking her vital signs and writing a few things down on a clipboard. She then pulled out a thermometer from a pocket in her nurses uniform, gently inserting it into Hinata's mouth to take her temperature. After a moment, she removed it, and checked the temperature.

"Well, her temperature is 37 degrees Celsius, so she doesn't have a fever," the nurse told Naruto, "But I want to keep her here for a while to observe her. All of her vital signs are normal, but I think we should keep her here until she wakes up, just to be on the safe side."

Naruto nodded, glad Hinata seemed to be okay. However, he was still concerned, so he didn't want to leave her alone just yet.

"That sounds great! Would it be okay for me to stay here until she wakes up?" Naruto asked the nurse, rubbing the back of his neck, a big smile on his face.

The nurse smiled back at him, and replied, "Of course, Naruto-kun. Just remember, this is a hospital, so please keep it down so others can rest. As long as you do that, you can stay as long as you want."

She then proceeded to leave the room, closing the door behind her. Naruto picked up a chair in the corner of the room, and moved it to the window so he could sit while waiting for Hinata to wake up. She stirred a little in her sleep. She murmured something inaudible to him, and he wondered what she was dreaming about. He tried to brush it off, but every time he tried, she would do something to catch his attention.

"More..." she whispered, coming out as a gasping moan.

His attention was caught once again. He then chuckled to himself, thinking she talked more in her sleep than in real life. Then she turned in her sleep, rolling onto her back. Her breathing was a bit heavy, her chest rising up and going down noticeably. That's when his eyes drifted to her breasts. With every breath, they trembled slightly, gravity trying to make the massive mounds fall and failing every time. She hummed in her sleep, sounding absolutely content. Just what was going on in her head?

XXXXXXX

Hinata fell onto the ground, nearly fainting when Naruto repeated his question. She didn't know what to tell him. She didn't want to lie, but how could she admit that she fainted because of him?

"Oi, Hinata-chan! You okay there? You started to collapse again." Naruto took her hand and helped her up. He then caressed her chin, lifting her face until her gaze met hers. Hinata blushed a little bit, embarrassed that she was staring into his eyes like that. Everything else seemed to fade away, until it was just the two of them.

"You know, you look really cute when you do that." Naruto said, a slight smile on his face.

"W-what do you mean, N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, confused, but unable to break her gaze into his eyes.

"That cute little blush you do. It makes you look so innocent and adorable. And that stutter...You're so cute, Hinata-hime."

Naruto caressed Hinata's cheek, making her blush even more. He had never called her "hime" before. She started smiling, barely believing what was happening. This had to be a dream. Whether it was real or not, she was going to enjoy the moment. She then felt Naruto gently pulling her face towards his.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata stuttered, shyly.

"Shhhh...Just relax Hinata-hime. This is...This is what should be." Naruto calmly answered, leaning in close to her face.

Hinata closed her eyes as Naruto pressed his soft lips to hers in a deep kiss. She couldn't believe this was happening. Naruto slid his arms around Hinata's waist, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss. Hinata's hands came up to rest on Naruto's shoulders. Finally, Naruto broke the kiss, smiling as he pressed his forehead to hers. Hinata smiled back, blush now permanently plastered to her cheeks.

"Come with me, Hinata-hime. I have something to tell you. But, let's go somewhere we can be alone." Naruto said, never breaking eye contact.

Suddenly, the area around them faded away, and they appeared in a room. Hinata realized they were in Naruto's apartment. Specifically, his bedroom. Her eyes widened when she realized this. Wasn't this moving a little fast? Was it really okay for them to be alone in his room together?

"Hinata," Naruto said, grabbing her attention again, "please sit. There's something I have to tell you."

Hinata did as she was told, sitting timidly on Naruto's bed. She looked around the room, eyeing the Konoha leaf poster on the wall above his bed, the picture of Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto framed and sitting on his bedside table. Everything was just as it was when he left, albeit with a little dust.

"Look at me, Hinata-hime." Naruto told her, staring into her eyes. "I've been wanting to tell you this ever since I left, and couldn't wait to come back to you, so I could finally tell you how I've been feeling these past three years."

Hinata could barely believe her ears. Was he going to say what she hoped he would say for so long to her? Everything seemed to go in slow motion as she waited for him to continue.

"Y-yes, Naruto-kun? What is it?"

"Hinata-hime, I...I love you."

Everything seemed to freeze. Hinata couldn't believe what was happening. After so long, she finally heard the words she worried she would never hear from him. She was so happy, tears started to form in her eyes. She began to wipe them away.

"Hime, what's wrong?" Naruto asked, worried he had upset her.

"N-nothing is wrong, Naruto-kun. E-everything is p-perfect. I'm...I'm so happy." Hinata's words were now choked, as she couldn't fight the tears and began to cry out of happiness.

"Then why are you crying, Hime?"

Hinata finally looked at him, eyes slightly red, and said, "I've waited to hear t-those words for so l-l-long. N-Naruto-kun...I-I love you, t-too. I always have."

Naruto wrapped his arms around her as she cried, rubbing her back. He kissed her forehead, softly. Finally, he lifted her face to look at her.

"Don't hide you're face, Hinata."

"B-but, Naruto-kun, I-I don't want you to s-see me cry..."

Naruto chuckled to himself, "Hinata-hime, you're beautiful, crying or not. Don't hide your beauty from me."

Naruto proceeded to kiss Hinata on the lips, deeper than before. He slowly leaned Hinata back onto the bed, deepening the kiss even more. His tongue sought entry to Hinata's mouth, but Hinata denied him access, motioning for him to stop. Naruto looked at her, a puzzled look on his face.

"What's wrong, Hinata?"

"D-don't you think this is m-moving a bit too fast?"

Naruto smiled, "Relax, Hime. It's alright. I know you're nervous, but I love you. I won't do anything to hurt you. Please, Hina-chan, let me make love to you."

Hinata was about to protest that they should wait, but Naruto kissed her again, and it felt so right to her. She decided it was alright. This time, when Naruto's tongue sought access, she granted it. Naruto's tongue slowly glided into her mouth, grazing her teeth and finding her tongue. She was shy at first, and didn't do much, but after a little coaxing, their tongues were wrestling together, full of passion.

Naruto reached up to her lavender jacket, grabbed her zipper, and he slowly pulled it down, revealing only a white, lace-trimmed bra. Naruto sat up, removing both his jacket and black shirt, revealing his toned body to Hinata. Her eyes widened, surprised at how toned he was. Her eyes widened even more when Naruto moved on top of her, feasting on her neck.

"Aah! Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled as he bit her neck, sucking on it lightly. His actions were causing a heat to stir between her legs, slowly building. It felt so good, and all he did was suck on her neck. She couldn't imagine anything feeling better than this. Right as she thought this, Naruto suddenly started trailing kissed down her neck until he reached her breasts. He kissed the top of her chest, right above her cleavage. He then reached under her back, feeling for her bra hook. When he found it, he fumbled with is for a second, then with a sudden snap, it popped open.

Naruto slowly slipped Hinata's bra off, revealing her massive breasts, nipples erect from everything he had done to her. He gently grabbed her left breast, massaging it with his hand while moving in to take it's twin in his mouth. He began to suck on her breast, flicking the nipple with his tongue. Hinata moaned at this action, losing herself in all of the pleasure he was causing her. Everything he did caused jolts of pleasure all the way from her breasts, down to her stomach, and down to her throbbing sex. She was becoming so wet with desire for Naruto. Her cheeks were flushed bright red with need for him. She looked so sexy to him. Naruto stopped what he was doing for a moment. Hinata moaned in protest.

Naruto chuckled perversely, asking her, "Do you like what I'm doing to you, Hime?"

"Yes, N-Naruto-kun. I love it." Hinata replied, still a little shy.

"Tell me what you want, Hinata. What do you want?" Naruto leaned down and nipped at her breast lightly.

"Aah! More, Naruto-kun! I want more!"

"As you wish, Hime."

Naruto removed his hand from her breast, earning a whimper from Hinata. That was soon replaced by a scream when he started massaging her sex with that hand.

"Oh, Kami, yes! More!"

Naruto then stopped everything and sat up.

"Wh-why'd you s-stop, Naruto-kun? I n-need you."

This made Naruto smile so perversely. Normally innocent Hinata was half naked, flushed bright red across her face, moaning and screaming his name, and telling him she needed him. She looked like the very definition of wanton.

"Trust me, Hinata-hime, you'll like this a lot more."

Naruto reached over to pull off Hinata's sandals, throwing them on the floor carelessly. He then reached up and grabbed the top of her pants where they were sitting on her hips, and slowly inched them down, giving her plenty of time to stop him if she wanted. However, she let him take them off. Hinata was now completely naked except for a pair of creamy white panties.

Naruto then reached down and removed his own pants, now only wearing boxers. His raging erection was pushing against the front of the boxers, itching to spring free. Hinata's eyes widened at how big the bulge of the erection was through the boxers. Naruto saw this, and laughed.

"I take it you like what you see?"

Hinata only nodded.

Naruto then crawled back on top of her, sucking her neck with more force than before, and bringing one of his hands down to massage her hot sex through her panties. She had gotten so worked up that her panties were already soaked.

"Oh fuck, Hinata, you're so wet."

Hinata moaned in response, her brain too clouded with everything happening to think of a response. Naruto decided to take things further. He slowly moved the thin fabric covering her crotch to the side. Immediately, the scent of her desire engulfed them. It drove Naruto crazy. He positioned his middle finger at her entrance, making Hinata suddenly get nervous.

"N-Naruto-kun, what are you-Aah!"

She was interrupted when Naruto suddenly plunged his finger into her liquid heat, captivated at how tight and wet she was. The walls of her hot sex clamped down on the finger, encasing it in her liquid heat. Naruto slowly pulled his finger back until only the first knuckle was inside, then plunged it right back inside her, earning a scream from her.

"Oh, Kami! Naruto-kun-Aah!"

Naruto grinned at that. It was time to finally do this. Slowly, he removed his digit from her sex. As soon as he did this, she immediately clamped down on it, not wanting him to stop. He assured her, she would love the next part even more. Hinata didn't see how anything could feel better than that. Then she saw Naruto reach for his boxers. Her eyes widened again as she realized what he wanted to do next. Slowly, he eased his boxers down, until they were completely off. That's when Hinata woke up to find herself in an unfamiliar room.

XXXXXXX

Naruto had been sitting in Hinata's room for about a half hour while she rested. Occasionally she would stir or murmur something in her sleep, but so far there were no signs she would wake up soon. He started to doze off as well, until something made him snap back awake. Hinata started moaning in her sleep again. But what she said was what really made Naruto snap awake.

_"Oh Kami...Naruto-kun...I need you..."_

Suddenly, Hinata's hand slipped down to the crotch of her pants, and she started rubbing it over and over in her sleep. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes. He always thought she was so innocent. He didn't know what to do in this situation. Then he felt his member slowly hardening. Hinata had started moaning again.

_"More...Naruto-kun...More..."_

He couldn't take much more of this. His member was at full attention now, was aching for release. But he couldn't do anything about it in front of her. Sure, she was, but she didn't know it. Slowly, he started to reach down and take it out, not being able to contain himself. Then he saw Hinata stop moving her hand. She made a questioning sound. Naruto immediately put his raging member away, and rested his arms on his lap, covering the obvious bulge in his pants. He then tried pretending he was asleep.

XXXXXXX

Hinata slowly sat up, wondering where she was. It finally registered that she was in a hospital room. She looked and saw Naruto sitting in a chair by her bed, sleeping.

_"Why is Naruto-kun here? And why am I here?"_Hinata thought to herself. She tried to remember what happened. She remembered walking through the village, looking for Kiba and Shino, and she saw Naruto over by the Academy. After that, her memory went blank. Suddenly, her dream started to come back to her. She started to blush at the thought of it all. That's when she realized how wet she was.

_"Oh, I hope I didn't do anything embarrassing in front of Naruto-kun, not after he just got back! I wonder how long he's been here?"_

Hinata sat on the edge of the hospital bed. She looked at Naruto, who appeared to be sleeping very soundly. He looked so peaceful, so calm. She didn't want to wake him, but she had to.

"Eto...N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto appeared to stir awake, awakened by her words.

"Hinata-chan? You're finally awake." Naruto smiled at the Hyuuga heiress, with genuine enthusiasm.

"H-how long have I b-been here? E-eto, w-why am I here?" Hinata stuttered, nervous about talking to Naruto after so long.

"Oh, um, well you suddenly collapsed in front of me, twice actually. I was worried about you, so I carried you here to see if they could help you." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, nervously. Hinata still had that blush on her face, and he was finding it really cute.

"Y-you carried me all t-the way h-here?" Hinata asked in disbelief. She couldn't believe Naruto carried her all the way to the hospital just because she fainted.

"Of course, Hinata-chan. You're my friend, and I take care of my friends." Naruto gave Hinata a big grin as he said this, making her blush even more. Then there was a sudden knock on the door, causing both of them to look up.

XXXXXXX

Naruto and Hinata both looked up to see Sakura enter the room. She was dressed in the same white uniform the nurse from before had been wearing. Naruto was utterly confused by this.

"Sakura-chan, what's with the weird outfit?" Naruto asked, weirdly without his usual enthusiasm he had around Sakura.

"Naruto? I work here now as a nurse when I'm not on missions. Tsunade-sama has been training me in medical ninjutsu and taijutsu since before you even left. You never pay attention, Naruto. What are you even doing here?" Sakura replied, sounding slightly annoyed.

_"What the hell is her problem?" _Naruto thought to himself. He brushed the thought aside before answering her question.

"I'm here because I'm the one who brought Hinata-chan here. I was worried, so I stayed and waited for her to wake up. Is that a problem?" Naruto combatted, with equal annoyance.

Sakura stared at him in silence for a moment. Was that a tone he just gave her? He was always so nice to her. What was with the attitude? She sighed, not having the energy to try and question it any further.

"No, but now that Hinata is awake, I have to do her physical exam before she can leave, to make sure she has no internal injuries or complications. Which means you will have to leave the room, Naruto."

"Why do I have to leave for her physical?" Naruto asked, clearly not understanding what that meant.

"If she has a physical examination, she needs to get undressed, Naruto. It's not proper for you to be in here while she undresses." Sakura stated bluntly, getting annoyed again.

She now had her arms crossed over her chest, clipboard in hand, and was tapping her foot impatiently. Naruto thought she looked more like an angry teacher than his teammate. The look wasn't nearly attractive to him. Then he thought about it, and wondered why this was. He had always thought she looked beautiful, no matter what. So what changed? Even earlier, as she had been shaking him and yelling in his face, he had thought she was beautiful. Naruto was completely puzzled.

"Hello, Naruto? Did you even hear a thing I just said?" Sakura yelled, snapping her fingers in front of his face, snapping him back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'll go wait in the hall until everything's done. I'll come back in when you're all done, okay, Hinata-chan?"

"O-okay, Naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered, smiling timidly at him as he walked out the door and into the hallway.

Naruto walked into the hallway and leaned against the wall. He couldn't figure out what was going on. One minute, Sakura was all that he could think about, beautiful no matter what she said, did, or wore. Maybe he had finally grown enough to see that what he once thought was love, was no more than a childhood crush. Or maybe it was something else. He remembered carrying Hinata to the hospital, and she looked so cute and beautifully. That blush on her cheeks, the way her dark blue hair flowed down and blew in the wind, shining in the sunlight. The way she snuggled in to his chest when he carried her, he found to be adorable. When he compared her to Sakura, she was a complete knockout. But why the sudden change? The normally cheerful shinobi had a frustrated look, unable to comprehend the situation.

XXXXXXX

Hinata began removing her jacket, followed by her simple white top. She now only had a white, lace-trimmed bra keeping her top half of her body decent. Sakura then took a stethoscope and pressed it to Hinata's chest above her breasts, listening to her heart.

"Take a deep breath." She told Hinata.

Hinata breathed in slowly, exhaling when Sakura told her. She repeated this twice more, as Sakura listened to her heart through her chest and back.

"Everything sounds normal. Please lie down. I'm going to press a few places on your stomach." Sakura requested.

Hinata lied down, feeling slightly uncomfortable being touched like this while so exposed, even if Sakura was a trained nurse. She felt Sakura pressing her stomach, going lower each time and asking if anything hurt, to which she denied. She was then asked to flip onto her back, to which she obliged. Sakura then began pressing into her lower back. Once again, she asked Hinata if anything hurt, and Hinata again replied that it didn't. Sakura finally told her that she could put her clothes back on, much to Hinata's relief.

"Well, I can't find anything wrong. You are free to leave if you feel well enough. Just remember to drink plenty of fluids in case you get dehydrated." Sakura stated, cheerfully.

"O-okay, Sakura-san. Arigato." Hinata replied. She was glad she could finally leave the hospital, preferably to change her panties, which were now completely soaked.

"It's no problem, Hinata-chan. Just be careful." Sakura replied. She then called Naruto back into the room.

Naruto was smiling when he came back in the room, happy that Hinata was okay. When he saw Hinata, his smile grew.

"Oi, Hinata-chan, you feeling any better? Are you ready to leave?" Naruto asked, cheerfully.

Hinata nodded, nervously.

Sakura stared at them both. Hinata's little stuttering was getting a bit old, in her opinion. Her crush on Naruto was pretty obvious, and she didn't know why he didn't realize it. Maybe he was more dense than she thought. And yet, his crush on her was still standing after three years, which bugged her to no end. Why couldn't he take no for an answer? She loved Sasuke, not Naruto, and never would. At least, not more than a friend. But then, something caught Sakura's attention. Naruto's eyes lingered on Hinata longer than normal. His blue-eyed gaze had something in it she couldn't quite recognize. It was so familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Was it adoration? For some reason, this set off an anger deep inside her. She didn't know why, but she couldn't shrug it off. Before it could grow anymore, she interrupted the silence.

"Well, if Hinata's feeling better, I guess you two should be off! Hinata is probably hungry, so you should buy her something to eat, Naruto." Sakura said, growing impatient very rapidly.

"Alright, you heard her Hinata-chan, let's go eat!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Not so loud, Naruto! This is a hospital." Sakura said, hushing him frantically.

"Ah, sorry, Sakura." Naruto replied, a little embarrassed.

Sakura? She wasn't sure she heard right. Did he just drop the "chan" from her name? What the hell was going on, and why was Naruto acting so weird today? Irritated, Sakura began to rush them out again.

"Yeah, yeah, just get going, both of you. We have other patients who need the room." She lied. Today was a pretty slow day, with almost no patients.

Naruto took Hinata's hand, making her blush, and led her out of the room, much to Sakura's delight.

XXXXXXX

Naruto and Hinata exited the building, still holding hands. Hinata was still blushing, delighted thataruto was holding her hand, but surprised as well. Naruto didn't know what made him decide to hold her hand, but he found that he actually liked it. Her hands were smooth and soft, and it just felt right to hold them. He smiled at Hinata.

"So, Hina-chan, where do you want to eat? How about barbecue?" He asked Hinata, who was blushing even more now that he was talking to her.

"T-that sounds g-good, N-Naruto kun." She replied, barely able to get the words out.

Narutp chuckled, replying, "You know, that is really cute. That little stutter you do."

Hinata was in shock. _"Did Naruto-kun just call me cute!?"_she thought. Before she could think to reply, Naruto interrupted.

"Alright, let's go get barbecue at Yakiniku!" Naruto exclaimed, holding their hands up in the air, while Hinata reveled in the moment.

She didn't know why Naruto was giving her all of this newfound attention, but she liked it. She got the courage to squeeze his hand a little, earning a squeeze back from him as he turned to look at her and gave her a huge smile, enjoying his time with her. Hinata couldn't believe this was all happening, and she never wanted it to end. Whatever made Naruto act like this to her, she silently thanked it. Little did she know, it was actually her own actions that caused this, at least indirectly.

After a brief moment, she smiled back at him, hoping this day would never end, as they walked to Yakiniku together, hand in hand.


	3. Buried Emotions

**So here it is! Chapter 3 is out, and much sooner than I expected! Just don't get too used to the quick updates. I'm actually really sick and have a fever, so I didn't even expect to do any writing, but I surprised myself! And, as promised, the story is getting more "romancy" (yes, I know that isn't a real word). Anyways, please enjoy and remember any and all reviews are welcome, and encouraged, as long as they aren't mean. Enjoy! ^_^**

**XXXXXXX**

Naruto and Hinata arrived at Yakiniku, no longer hand in hand, much to each other's dismay. A few nosy people had stopped them along the way, seeing them holding hands, and started questioning the status of their relationship. When they realized how it probably looked to everyone, they immediately yanked each other's hands away, looking away from each other in embarrassment. They denied anything was going on, although that probably wouldn't stop a few rumors in the near future.

After that, they had continued on their way in silence, both of their hands feeling empty from the absence of each other's touch. Finally, they walked in to the crowded eatery, the sun setting behind them. A waitress showed them to a booth, handing them each a menu. They both decided on chicken and beef, saying little to each other aside from deciding on their food.

After a few minutes, the waitress came back to take their drink and food orders. Both only requested water, and then went back to silence. Finally, Naruto couldn't take it anymore.

"Hinata-chan, I'm sorry about earlier." He said, his voice sounding rather low and downbeat in comparison to his usual loud and cheerful self.

Hinata looked up puzzled, not knowing what he meant at all.

"W-what do you mean?" She asked.

Naruto sighed. "I shouldn't have just grabbed your hand and dragged you along, especially after you just got out of the hospital. And I should have let go when I realized I had done it. I knew I should have, but...I just..."

Naruto paused, trying to come up with an explanation for his unusual behavior, but drawing a blank. He just didn't even know what to say.

"Well, actually, I don't know why I did what I did. I just did it. It just felt...right..." Naruto slightly blushed with that last word, remembering how soft and warm her hand was in his own. He could almost feel it back in his grip.

Hinata was speechless. She couldn't have described it any other way. It just felt so right when Naruto was holding her hand, she was sad when he let it go, even if she did nothing to stop him from doing so. His words made her believe for a second that maybe it had been the same for him as it had for herself, but she pushed the thought away almost as soon as it came to her, dismissing it as purely ridiculous. Naruto had never thought of her that way, why would he start now? He was purely a good friend, and now matter how much it pained her, that was all her would ever be to her.

Hinata was finally about to respond, but she was interrupted by the waitress bringing them their orders, setting the water down in front of each of them, and the tray of sliced meat next to the little grill in the middle of the table. Naruto immediately began stacking pieced of beef and chicken onto the grill, completely forgetting that he had been waiting for Hinata's response. He was nearly drooling, anticipating the meal. He had missed all of the great food Konoha had to offer, and he had been at the hospital most of the day, earning his appetite back, somehow. Apparently, not even three bowls of ramen could sustain the blonde ninja for very long. He suddenly remembered that he and Hinata had been having a conversation.

"Oi, Hinata-chan, were you about to say something a minute ago?" He asked, completely oblivious to the fact that she hadn't even made the effort to put any food on the grill for herself.

Hinata snapped back to reality, staring into Naruto's deep blue gaze. His beautiful, blue, deep eyes that she could just gaze into all day. Hinata realized she was starting to lose focus again and mentally slapped herself. Naruto frowned when she didn't respond, thinking she was mad at him for earlier.

"I'm sorry, Hina-chan. If you're mad at me, I understand, I completely-"

"N-no, I'm not mad, Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed, before clasping her hands over her mouth in shock. Had she just interrupted someone? Never mind that, had she just interrupted _Naruto_of all people?! And hardly a single stutter in her exclamation, at that. A few people had turned to look at whomever had made the sudden noise that had interrupted their meals. Even Naruto looked surprised.

"Hinata...did you just interrupt me?" Naruto asked slowly, trying to figure out if it even happened.

"S-sumimasen...Naruto-kun. I-I didn't m-mean to-"

"I'm surprised! I didn't think you were capable of doing that! And you barely even stuttered. Don't get me wrong, I like the stutter you do, but I never expected you would interrupt someone. That was awesome! Don't be sorry, be proud, Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, interrupting Hinata's attempt at an apology.

They were now receiving a few glares at the sudden commotion they were causing, but Naruto thought nothing of it, as per usual. Naruto took the moment to pick up a piece of beef from the grill, now thoroughly seared through, to take a bite.

"Itadakimasu!" He shouted, leaning in to take the bite. Just before eating it, he stopped. Hinata looked at him curiously, wondering why he didn't take the bite.

"Hinata, you deserve the first bite, you accomplished something awesome just now! You've earned it."

The blonde smiled at Hinata, while she was barely recovering from the last incident, only to be brought into another situation. She didn't know how to react. Finally, after a long pause, Naruto cut in.

"Hinata? The beef is going to get cold. Want me to help?"

Before either of them knew what was happening, Naruto suddenly leaned over the table and fed Hinata the beef she had been holding in his chopsticks, earning a surprised but muffled squeal from Hinata. He didn't know what made him do that, but he couldn't stop himself. Hinata, however, didn't seem to mind much, although the action did surprise her. After a moment, she relaxed as the flavor hit her tongue, and she pulled back from Naruto's chopsticks as she melted into the seat. Naruto was still leaned over the table, not knowing what had come over him, but relaxing as he noticed that Hinata seemed to enjoy the action, and the food.

"Mmm, it's delicious, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata finally replied after she swallowed her food, a small blush creeping onto her face. It wasn't her normal blush from embarrassment. It was more of a blown away in the moment type. She thought it was so sweet that Naruto fed her the first bite, even if a little surprising. Naruto stared back for a moment, and when he was satisfied that she was happy, he gave her his trademark grin and sat back down. He laughed to himself, thinking how he was glad he had done that to Hinata, not Sakura. If he had done that to Sakura, she very well might have walked out of the restaurant, saying something about how it wasn't a date and he shouldn't be treating her like she was on one unless she said it was okay.

Wait, why was Sakura in this? What did she have to do with it, and why was he comparing her to Hinata? And most of all, why was he thinking about this as a date? He was just bringing his good friend out to eat after a long day in the hospital. That's all it was. Or at least, that was how it was supposed to be. But then again, he had never been on a real date, since Sakura always turned him down when he would ask. He started to realize how much it bugged him that Sakura treated him like dirt when all he did was try to treat her like a princess, like he had always seen her. But she was too busy doing the exact same thing to Sasuke, and he treated her even worse than she treated Naruto. How is it that she didn't realize how bad that made him feel, when she experienced it first hand from the Uchiha.

How could she still love him after he abandoned the village, and left her on a cold bench in the middle of the night to meet whatever fate would come to her being all alone and defenseless at that hour? He was beginning to regret his promise to her to bring him back. Even he could see that Sasuke would never love Sakura back, and when he thought about it, it was probably the same with Sakura and himself. Sakura would most likely never love Naruto the way he had loved her for so many years. He finally was beginning to realize this.

He wished she would have been nicer to his heart all of those years, but he supposed it was that cold treatment that was making him realize all of this now. It hurt, but Naruto was coming to realize he should start to move on while he could. Naruto was suddenly snapped away from his thoughts from a very funny sight. Hinata was finally going to take a bite of food on her own, but couldn't seem to get a solid grip on the piece of chicken she was trying to grab. Every time she picked it up, it would pop out of the chopsticks and fall back to the grill.

Naruto chuckled to himself, wondering why he found it so funny. She finally got a solid grip after about ten or more tries, but right when it got to her mouth, her grip wavered, and the piece fell back to the grill, now slightly charred.

"Oh, n-now I can't e-eat it. It's all b-burnt." Hinata said with a small, sad pout.

Naruto couldn't help but feel for the Hyuuga heiress, so he decided to be a little bold and try something to make her feel better. He just hoped she didn't get upset at him doing something like this without at least a little warning.

"Here, let me." Naruto told Hinata, taking her wrist and helping her gripped the charred remains of the chicken, and slowly leading her to place it in his mouth.

"There. Now we're even!" Naruto yelled, his mouth still full. The chicken tasted awful, but he couldn't spit it out and ruin the moment.

Hinata couldn't believe what just happened. Naruto had just taken her hand for the second time today, and helped her feed him a piece of food that she had thoroughly destroyed, without a single complaint about it being burnt or tasting bad. Anybody else would have spat it out or possibly insulted her for it. But not Naruto, he was different. And that was why she had always loved him. He made her feel good about herself even when others made her feel like nothing.

Naruto smiled at Hinata, loving how she had that surprised look on her face, that faint blush adorning her cheeks. She didn't look upset or freaked out, which was good news to him. She looked more mystified. Sakura would have no doubt yelled at him, calling him dumb for eating a burnt piece of chicken, and being selfish for making her feed him. But Hinata probably didn't even have the capacity to say a mean thing to anybody. She just wasn't that type of person. She was kind, and sweet, and cared for everybody, no matter how badly they hurt her. He really admired that about her, although he thought she should stand up for herself a bit more.

Naruto began to blush a bit, as well, Hinata's gaze lingering on him for a while. He laughed, nervously, not knowing what else to do. He didn't want to point it out and make her feel rude, so he just waited a bit more. When she kept staring, apparently not even realizing she was doing it, he finally spoke up.

"Uh...Hinata-chan? You alright?" He asked, snapping her back to attention.

"Huh? O-oh, right. S-sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered, not realizing she had been staring. She blinked, wondering how long she had been doing it. Naruto just laughed at her cute reactions, stating that they should eat their food before it burnt. Hinata nodded, and they both began piling food onto their plates, stacking more of the raw cuts onto the grill while they ate the already cooked pieces.

They ate and talked, savoring the delicious barbecue, while enjoying each others' company. Naruto did most of the talking, but Hinata actually managed to take an active part in the conversation, even if it was mostly stutters. When they finished their food, their conversation had somehow gotten to what Ino would look like with pink hair, and Sakura with blonde. They both agreed that it wouldn't work for either of the two. They may have been a lot alike, but there were just some lines that should never be crossed.

Naruto finally called the waitress to them to get the check. They both finished their water, and after Naruto paid, they both left and walked around Konoha. It was about nine at night, meaning they had been eating for about two hours. He couldn't believe how much time had flown by. It must have been because of Hinata. He was having a really great time alone with her. Before, whenever she was around, it was always in a crowd, so she never really got to let herself open up. He never noticed how interesting and cute she could be. He mentally slapped himself for always thinking she was so weird. She was just shy, and needed to learn to open up more easily. She seemed to be opening up a little to Naruto, and he was glad for that.

They walked aimlessly for a while, enjoying the quiet and tranquility of the night. They would occasionally exchange conversation, but for the most part they just walked around and enjoyed the night. It was a nice night, the moon out and full, shining brightly down on the two. The moonlight made Hinata's dark blue hair shine, and her pale skin seemed to glow. She didn't realize it, but Naruto was admiring her beauty as they walked.

_"Did she ever look this beautiful? If she did, why am I only just now realizing this!?"_He thought to himself. He didn't think he'd even seen Sakura look as radiant as Hinata looked right now. The only thing that even came close was a few years back when he had been on a mission with Shino, Kiba, and Hinata. He had woken up in the middle of the night, and when he got to the waterfall, he saw one of the most wonderful sights of his life. In the middle of the lake, a woman was nude, dancing so gracefully. Drops of water flew around her, making her seem to shimmer. He finally went up to tell her that he thought that was the most amazing things he had ever seen, but she grabbed her clothes and ran off, and he never got to see her face. He always regretted not knowing at least her name. Little did he know he was walking with the very same woman from that night.

They continued walking forward, eventually making it to the bridge. When they got to the middle of the bridge, Naruto stopped suddenly. After about ten seconds, Hinata realized he wasn't beside her anymore and turned around.

"N-Naruto-kun? W-What's the matter?" Hinata asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing's wrong, Hinata-chan. In fact, everything's perfect. Today has to be the best day ever. I come back to Konoha, see all of my friends, and got to spend the day with you. It was so much fun, and I feel closer to you now. I never realized how much fun you are. Sorry for never noticing you before, Hinata-chan. Forgive me?" Hinata said, smiling at her.

Hinata stared back, dumbfounded. _"Naruto-kun noticed me? He thinks I'm fun to be around? Oh, Kami, please let this be real." _She finally spoke.

"You...You had fun with me?" She asked, timidly. She started to wonder if she had passed out again, and this was all just another cruel dream.

"Of course I did. You're great, Hina-chan. You should be more confident in yourself. You're a wonderful person. I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize that."

"I-It's okay, Naruto-kun. D-Don't be sorry. I've always t-thought you were s-so...amazing. I've a-always admired you...Naruto-kun. And...And I..." Hinata trailed off. Could she do it? Could she really confess to Naruto? Could she tell him how much he meant to her, and made her smile, made her feel good about herself and motivated her to push on when everyone else seemed to want to push her down? Could she tell him that she loved him?

"Hinata? Weren't you going to say something else?" Naruto interjected when she didn't continue.

She looked so shy and cute, and a bit nervous. He wondered why. It was almost like she was confessing to someone. But that was impossible. She didn't like him like that. She was a Hyuuga, an heiress. She would never be interested in someone like him, with no family or money. Then it hit him. She always blushed around him. She only stuttered when she was around him. He knew this because there had been a few times that he was around and she didn't realize, and had no problem talking without the stutter. She was always so nervous around him. Could it be that the reason she fainted was because of him? Why did he never notice this all before? Maybe it was because he was older, or maybe because he had been able to spend so much time with her today. But it all made sense now that he really thought about it for the first time. And if he was correct, that meant that right now, Hinata was probably trying to work up the courage to confess. And he was not prepared for that at all.

"W-Well, N-Naruto-kun, I...eto...I...I lo-"

"Naruto! Hinata!" A voice yelled, interrupting Hinata and saving Naruto from the situation.

They both turned to look at who was yelling at them. Kiba was rapidly approaching them, riding on Akamaru's back. When he got to them, he hopped off. Whatever it was he needed was apparently urgent, as he looked like he had just ran a marathon.

"What is it, Kiba?" Naruto asked, thankful he had come when he did. He didn't know what he would have said if Hinata had been able to finish her sentence.

"Tsunade-sama wants you in her office, immediately. Both of you." Kiba told them, gasping for air. Apparently, he had gone all over Konoha looking for them.

"Both of us? And why at this hour?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know the details, but you guys better go quick. It's urgent." Kiba replied, a little annoyed that he was being questioned about something he didn't even know about after he had ridden all over Konoha to find them.

""Well, Hinata-chan, I guess we should be going now before Baa-chan gets mad at us." Naruto told Hinata, who had been completely silent the entire time.

"O-Okay, Naruto-kun." Hinata weakly replied. She was a little upset that she finally got the courage to confess to Naruto, and then was interrupted before she could get the words out. But, at least Naruto had finally noticed her. That was something.

The three of them all walked back to Tsunade's office, occassionally exchanging conversation, but for the most part it was silent on the way there.

XXXXXXX

Naruto and Hinata arrived at Tsunade's office, Kiba leaving them at the door. Instead of knocking like a normal person, Naruto barged in. Tsunade gave whoever dared barge in a deathly glare, but seeing as it was Naruto, she decided it was no use. Hinata walked in after him, shyly.

"Naruto, welcome home. Hinata, thank you for coming, as well." Tsunade addressed them both. She studied Naruto, noting how much he had grown in three years, and wondering if all the the training with Jiraiya had paid off. She trusted that it had, knowing Naruto had high capabilities.

"I trust your training has gone well, and you have made improvements?" Tsunade asked Naruto.

"Hell yeah, Baa-chan! Akatsuki doesn't stand a chance!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Good." Tsunade answered. "Hinata, you've been training hard with your father and Neji, and it is really starting to show. You are making rapid progress."

"A-Arigato, Tsunade-sama." Hinata replied, not used to the compliments.

"Which is why I have decided to give you both a mission. As you both know, Sasuke is currently with Orochimaru. I have reports that his new hideout has been discovered in the Lightning Country, about five miles west of Kumogakure. You two along with Kakashi and Sakura are to go and retrieve Sasuke. Do not engage Orochimaru unless you have no choice. The primary goal of this mission is to bring Sasuke Uchiha back to the village, alive, so we can interrogate him on everything that has happened in the three years since he has left. You are to leave tomorrow , just after dawn. Understood?"

"Hai!" Hinata and Naruto replied.

"Good. You are dismissed. Rest up for this mission. You're going to need it." Tsunade told them, a serious tone in her voice.

Naruto and Hinata then exited her office. They walked silently down the stairs, thinking about the mission. Naruto was both happy and slightly irritated. He had just got back to Konoha, and while he was happy to have a mission, especially when it meant he could bring his old teammate home, he wished he could have had more time to rest and resettle in the village before being hauled off again on a mission for however long it took. However, he was glad he was able to get the chance to bring Sasuke home to Konoha, even if he betrayed the village. Maybe he could forgive the pretentious idiot.

Meanwhile, Hinata was lost in thought. She would be on a mission with Naruto for days on end. Maybe she could get the chance to tell him how she felt at some point, if they were able to be alone. While Hinata was normally kind to everyone, she silently cursed Kiba for ruining the moment and interrupting her. She finally was able to say it, after so many years, and was interrupted. They were at the main doors to the building. She heard a voice, vaguely, but was too deep in thought to notice.

"Hinata? Hinata-chan? Is that okay with you?" Naruto repeated for the third time.

"Huh? O-Oh, s-sorry, Naruto-kun. W-What were you saying?" Hinata asked, embarrassed that she tuned him out for so long.

"I asked if I could walk you home. It's dark and you shouldn't have to walk alone, even if you are a ninja." Naruto replied, a light blush on his face. He didn't know what was coming over him, but he just didn't want to leave Hinata's side. She was so nice to be around. He knew now that she wasn't exactly innocent, but she still had that cute, pure look to her that he never saw in anyone else. It was hypnotizing to Naruto.

"O-Oh. O-Okay, Naruto-kun. That would be nice." Hinata shyly replied, blushing at the thought. She had never been walked home by a guy before. The thought delighted her that the first one to do so was Naruto.

They walked for a moment in silence. Hinata's home wasn't too far, so it wasn't long before they arrived in front of the compound. They both stopped, neither really wanting their time together to end, although they wouldn't admit it to each other. Hinata turned to Naruto to tell thank him as she leaned against the wall next to the gate.

"Arigato, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata told him, a little sadness in her voice at the thought of leaving him.

"For what?" he asked her.

"W-Well, for the food, and t-taking me to the hospital, and being so n-nice to me all day and offering to take me h-home." Hinata replied, looking away shyly.

"Hina-chan, you don't have to thank me. I did that because you deserve to be treated that way."

"S-Still." She replied.

"Hinata-chan, you know that I have always-" Naruto started, taking a step forward. Suddenly, he tripped, falling towards Hinata. He caught himself on the wall, an arm on each side of her, closing her into the wall.

"Hina-chan! I'm sorry! I didn't mean...to..." His voice trailed off as he stared into her face. She was blushing so much he could see it in the dark. And it was the cutest thing he had ever seen. Suddenly, as if his body disconnected from his mind, he started leaning forward towards her face.

He kept inching closer, and much to his surprise, so did she. She wanted this. And he was beginning to realize, so did he. He tilted his face to the side, and she let her lips fall loosely apart.

"Naruto-kun..." she whispered, her warm breath on his cheek.

Naruto was only a couple of inches away from her face, and he decided to fill the gap. He leaned in to kiss Hinata, slowly, giving her plenty of time to stop him if she changed her mind. She did no such thing, leaning in closer, herself. Right as their lips were about to touch, a loud noise interrupted the silence.

"Naruto! What the hell are you doing to Hinata!?"

They both turned to see Sakura staring at them. She was holding a bag of groceries, her nurse uniform now replaced with her red shirt and shorts combination. She looked very angry for some reason.

"Well!?" She yelled at Naruto, demandingly.

"What do you want me to say, Sakura?" Naruto asked, turning around to face her. "You get mad at me for liking you and asking you out so much, and when I finally stop and find someone who actually appreciates the things I do, you get mad at me again. How can I win with you? At least Hinata-chan treats me with respect! All you do is get mad, yell at me, and hit me. I'm done with it! I'm still willing to try and be your friend, but I can't love someone who doesn't even give me the respect I deserve! You of all people should know how that feels, Sakura."

Hinata stayed silent, not knowing what to do. She watched as Naruto let loose what sounded like some deeply buried feelings.

"Excuse me!? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sakura yelled back at Naruto. She couldn't believe he had the nerve to speak to her like that.

Naruto finally couldn't take it. He completely let loose.

"I'm saying what I've been holding back for a long time. You constantly pine after Sasuke, and he treats you like dirt! He doesn't love you, calls you annoying on multiple occasions, and then when he left the village, he had you so tightly wrapped around his finger that even though he didn't want you around, you offered to betray your own village, your friends and family, just for him. He never loved you, never respected you, and left you alone, on a cold bench in the middle of the night to meet whatever cruel fate could come to you. And you still love the guy! I'm keeping my promise, I'll bring him back, but I can't understand what would make you love someone who treated you like nothing. I had my share of it, and it wasn't fun. So, I'm done, Sakura. I'm done pining after you. I know you didn't want to hear any of this, but as your friend, I needed to say it. Now, could you please leave? I was in the middle of telling Hina-chan goodnight."

Sakura was completely stunned into silence. She didn't know what to say. Was that really how Naruto had felt all of this time? Without another word, Sakura slowly began to walk away, tears forming in her eyes that she refused to let fall. She couldn't let Naruto see how much his words affected her.

Naruto turned back to Hinata and sighed. "I'm sorry you had to see all of that, Hina-chan."

Hinata stared back with wide eyes. She had always thought he would love Sakura for the rest of his life, but to see him finally cut his feelings off was a shock. Did that mean he liked her now? She didn't know what to think.

"I-It's okay, Naruto-kun. Really. I-I should be going back inside, now. T-Thank you, Naruto-kun, for e-everything. I-I'll see you tomorrow." Hinata replied. She smiled at him before opening the gate and walking inside, leaving Naruto standing outside.

"See you tomorrow, Hinata-chan..." Naruto said out loud, even though she couldn't hear him anymore. He couldn't believe all that had happened today. First he had Ichiraku for the first time in three years. Then he was attacked by a giant beast that ended up turning into Akamaru. Then he saw Hinata, and ended up carrying her all the way to the hospital, learning that she wasn't all that innocent after all, taking her out to eat. Then he got a mission on his first day back, with Hinata, too. And finally he ended his infatuation with Sakura for good. All of this on his first day back in Konoha. It was certainly an eventful day. He slowly began walking away from the Hyuuga compound, towards his apartment.

XXXXXXX

Hinata stared out from her window to see Naruto still standing there for some reason. She wondered why he was still there. Finally he started slowly walking away. She couldn't believe all that had happened today. Never had she been more confused in her life. Not only had she almost confessed to Naruto, but she almost kissed him! And Naruto had finally let go of his crush on Sakura, right in front of her, too. She couldn't believe it. Today had to be the best day of her life.

Hinata walked to her closet and pulled out a pale blue tank top. She slipped off her jacket, shirt, and bra, and slipped the tank top over her head. She then pulled a medium-sized backpack out of her closet. She put a couple extra outfits, a couple scrolls, five kunai, her forehead protector, and a sleeping bag inside it. She then zipped it up and set it down next to her door. She then walked over to a full length mirror in the corner of her room, and she began brushing her hair.

While brushing her hair, she began contemplating what to do about Naruto. She had already comfirmed it with herself that she would definitely confess to him while on this mission. She just needed to make sure there was a moment where they could be alone. She didn't even care if Naruto rejected her, it was time to tell him, before she lost the chance forever. She couldn't believe they almost kissed not ten minutes ago. That forever was going to be one of the most precious moments of her life.

She finished brushing her hair, and laid down on her mattress. She pulled the covers snug over her curvaceous body, curling up beneath them. She was slowly drifting to sleep. In her final waking moments before sleep consumed her, she wondered what it would feel like to kiss Naruto for real.

XXXXXXX

Naruto arrived at his small apartment, deep in thought. Not only had he almost kissed Hinata, he had also completely cut off his feelings for Sakura. He didn't know what had come over him, but he felt like a weight had been lifted. Deep down, he had been mad at her for the way she had treated him, and it took a day with a girl who seemed to hang on his every word to realize it. She would always be a treasured teammate and friend, but there was no longer any room in his heart for her for anything romantic. It was time for him to move on. But what really bugged him was why she seemed to care so much if he actually did move on. She seemed to have made it her duty to make sure the only one he was allowed to pay any romantic attention to her, even though she said she didn't want him. It was really weird.

He walked inside his apartment, now a bit cold from airing out all day. The dust that had settled was no longer in such a large quantity, and it smelled fresh and clean. He closed his window that he had left cracked open. He turned on the small heater to warm the place up while he went into his room and opened his closet to put his clothes in there. He would have to remember to buy some new shirts and pants, since he had outgrown all of the ones he left home. He then pulled out a pair of sweat pants to wear to bed. He removed his orange jacket and pants, revealing the black shirt and boxers underneath. He slipped on the gray sweatpants and put his discarded clothes in a pile next to his bag.

He didn't even need to pack his stuff since it was all still in his backpack from his training. The only thing he needed to add was his forehead protector. After that, he walked over and laid down on his bed. He laid awake for a while, thinking about the mission. It was going to be a bit awkward to be on a mission with Sakura after everything he had said to her, especially with Hinata there, too, who had witnessed everything. He hoped Sakura wasn't mad at Hinata for anything. He didn't know what she might do to her if she was. However, if she tried something, he would stop her. He would protect Hinata no matter what.

He began to wonder if maybe he was able to say everything to Sakura because he had already moved on with Hinata. He brushed the thought aside, though. He had only been back a day, and that wasn't enough time to move on from loving someone, was it? Naruto sighed. He didn't want to be thinking about complicated things like this the night before a mission, especially after the wonderful day he had. He had been able to see all of most friends most of his friends and how much they had changed after so long. Aside from the whole incident with Sakura, he couldn't have asked for a better first day back. Slowly, he began to fall asleep. He didn't want to fight it any longer, since he had to be up early for his mission in the morning. After about ten minutes, sleep finally consumed him. Strangely enough, he distinctly remembered a certain blue-haired kunoichi's face popping into his mind as he drifted off, leaving a smile on his face as he lost consciousness.


	4. Jealousy

**I was going to make this chapter even longer, but I decided you guys have waited long enough. So here it is, chapter 4! I hope you guys like it, it took me a while to think of what to write. Let me know what you guys think! Enjoy!**

**XXXXXXX**

Tsunade sat at her desk in her office, head resting in a medical book, a bottle of sake to her right, dangerously close to the edge of the desk. Her breathing was deep and even, signaling she was asleep. It was around ten at night. Only an hour earlier had Naruto and Hinata been in her office. Suddenly, a knock at her door disturbed the Hokage's slumber.

"Tsunade-sama?" the person outside the door asked questioningly.

Tsunade slowly sat up, wondering who was bothering her so late. She quickly hid the sake bottle under her desk and fixed her hair, which had become disheveled from her nap.

"Come in." she finally answered.

The door opened to reveal Shizune, followed closely by a clearly troubled Hyuuga Hiashi. Tsunade wondered why he was here so late, seeing as she hadn't summoned him. He looked like he was ready to blow a fuse, and the tired and slightly drunk Hokage was in no mood to hear it.

"Hiashi-sama wishes to speak to you. I told him you were busy and to come back tomorrow, but he said it was urgent." Shizune told Tsunade. She was about to leave, but noticed Tsunade didn't look too good, so she stayed in case she was needed. She walked over to the Hokage's side to stand, noticing the sake bottle that was poorly hidden on the floor under the desk. She sighed, wondering if Tsunade would ever break her bad habits.

"I see. What is it you wish to speak with me about, Hiashi?" Tsunade asked the clearly disgruntled Hyuuga.

"I want to know why you put my daughter on a mission in the Lightning Country. You know what they did all those years ago. What makes you think they won't take the opportunity again? You are basically handing her right over to them! I cannot allow you to send her on this mission." he replied, trying to contain his anger.

"Hiashi, who I choose to send on missions is not up for debate. I have my reasons for sending ninjas on every mission. She was chosen because her skills are best for the mission. You cannot change my mind on this." Tsunade replied, slightly annoyed that her authority was being questioned.

"And what makes you think those bastards from Kumogakure won't try something!? They will leap at the chance to capture a Hyuuga without the seal! They would stop at nothing to get the Byakugan!" He shot back, his voice slightly elevated.

"They won't do that, because such an act would start an all out war against the Fire Country. It was barely avoided last time. They won't risk it again." Tsunade calmly replied.

"What if they run into Cloud ninja that don't wait for orders? They will overpower her and capture her anyway! And once they have her, the Raikage isn't going to refuse what's placed in front of him! I will not allow her to be put into that kind of danger! She will be-"

"Hyuuga Hiashi! Know your place! Only I choose who goes on missions, not you, nor anyone else. You may be from a powerful clan, but I am the Hokage, and you will do well to remember that!" Tsunade yelled, no longer sitting, but standing, angered by his arrogance. The Hyuuga took a step back in shock, before collecting his emotions again.

"My apologies, Hokage-sama. I was out of line. But please, don't let my daughter go on this mission." he pleaded.

Tsunade sat back down, clasping her hands together in front of her face.

"Hiashi, you must understand that I chose her because she is best fit for this type of mission. I am well aware of the risks, but the advantages of placing her on the team outnumber them. Also, I can't tell you how to raise your daughter, but let me tell you something. You need to have more faith in your daughter. She is strong, and when she utilizes her strengths right, she is very powerful. She is no longer a fragile little girl, but a powerful woman and kunoichi. She can protect herself, and her teammates. That is part of the reason she was chosen for this mission. I don't want to discuss this any further. My mind is set, Hiashi."

Hiashi took a moment to think about all that the Hokage had said. Maybe she was right, and he should trust that his daughter could protect herself. But he couldn't bear it if she didn't come back from her mission. It would kill him just as much as when he lost her mother. His daughters were all he had left of her.

"I understand, Hokage-sama. I apologize for troubling you so late." Hiashi finally replied before exiting the room.

There was a moment of silence before Shizune finally spoke up.

"Tsunade-sama...Are you really sure she'll be alright on this mission?" she asked.

Tsunade sighed. "Yes, Shizune. I do believe she will be alright. However, just in case, I made sure Sakura and Kakashi were placed on the team. They, along with Naruto, won't let serious harm come to her."

"I see." Shizune replied, a sense of doubt washing over her. This did not go unnoticed by Tsunade.

"Shizune, relax. I would not put her on this mission unless I thought she could complete it successfully. I have no doubt that she can do this. She is more powerful than she looks." Tsunade assured her assistant.

Shizune finally relaxed a bit. "You're right, Tsunade-sama."

"Don't worry, Shizune. I worry about her, too. But it's late. We could both stand to get some sleep." Tsunade replied with a yawn.

"Okay, I'll be going then. Goodnight, Tsunade-sama." Shizune said, walking towards the door.

"Goodnight, Shizune." Tsunade answered. She slowly stood up, very tired from all that had transpired today. Finally, she decided to sit back down and just sleep at her desk again. Within a moment, she was back asleep.

XXXXXXX

Naruto woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. Today was the start of his first official mission in years. He was extremely excited, but that wasn't the reason he was smiling. He was smiling because he had dreamt of the woman from the lake. It was exactly how he remembered it. She was elegant, beautiful, and so graceful. In his dream, he couldn't see her face, but her eyes seemed to glow. They were a beautiful lavender color. They reminded him of Hinata's eyes.

Then Naruto began to smile for another reason. He would be on a mission with her for days, maybe even weeks! Last night had been so much fun, he couldn't wait to spend every day with her. He looked at his clock. It read 3:57 in the morning. He decided to get ready early and wait for everyone to show up at the gate. He quickly stripped off his clothes and turned on the shower, waiting a moment for it to heat up before stepping inside. The warm water was so relaxing against his skin, it was almost like being back in bed. He closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the sensation. That was his horrible mistake.

Naruto opened his eyes a bit later to freezing cold water beating down on his back as he stood leaning against the corner of his shower. He had fallen asleep. He hurried to wash his hair and body, then promptly shut off the water and hopped out. He dried himself off, brushed his teeth, and walked out to his room. He glanced at the clock. It was almost 5:30! He was running late on his very first mission after coming back! Even Kakashi was probably there at this point.

He quickly slipped into a pair of boxers, slipped on his pants, and fished a black shirt out of his bag. He quickly slipped a his jacket on over it, and tied his Konoha forehead protector around his head. Finally, he slipped his sandals on, grabbed his bag, locked his door, and ran like hell towards the main gate.

When he arrived, everyone was waiting for him. Everyone, that is, except for Hinata. She was nowhere to be seen.

"Oi, Naruto, it took you long enough! Where's Hinata? Tied up in your room?" Sakura rudely asked, rolling her eyes as she asked the last question.

"Why would I know where she is? I assumed she would be here by now. And don't talk about her like that, Sakura. If you're still mad about what I said, I don't want to hear it. Don't say anything unless you can be nice." Naruto shot back, thinking that if she actually did that, it would be one silent mission.

Meanwhile, why the two were bickering, Kakashi calmly sat down, reading one of his many _Icha Icha_ books. He paused for a moment when he realized that Hinata was still missing from the group after twenty minutes of everyone waiting at the gate. Everyone had the same thought.

_"Where the hell is Hinata?"_

XXXXXXX

Hinata stood in front of her mirror, staring at her reflection. She couldn't believe she would be away with Naruto for so long. She desperately hoped they would get a chance to be alone together, and she hoped it was soon. She was nervous, but wanted so badly to tell Naruto how she felt, it overpowered her nerves.

It was 4:12 in the morning. She had a bit of time to kill, so she wasn't trying to hurry. She thought about trying her hair in a ponytail, but decided against it. Finally, she walked away from the mirror and into the bathroom to take her bath. The water was already drawn for her, so she simply stripped down and stepped in the water. She sat there for a little while, just thinking.

She thought about confessing her love to Naruto. She thought about what he had said to Sakura. She thought about the mission, and bringing Sasuke back. It was a lot to think about at once, and after a while, she realized she needed to actually take her bath. She washed up quickly, rinsing the shampoo from her long raven hair. She then grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her while simultaneously brushing her teeth. She removed the towel and used it to dry her hair, in a hurry to leave, having took longer in the bath than she had planned. She quickly brushed her hair, grabbed her clothes and hurriedly slipped them all on.

She looked at the clock. It read 5:45. She was officially late. She grabbed her bag and ran out the door, hoping that when she got there, everyone wouldn't be mad at her.

XXXXXXX

Everybody was at the front gate, waiting for Hinata. Sakura was sitting with her legs crossed on the ground, repeatedly injuring and then healing a beetle that was crossing the ground in front of her. Kakashi was leaning against the wall beside the gates, his nose still buried in his book, occasionally giving a mischievous snicker. Naruto was pacing back and forth, growing more and more worried.

_"What if something happened to Hinata? Maybe she was actually hurt, and the nurses just didn't find anything. I hope nothing is wrong. But what could be taking so long?"_ Naruto thought to himself, pacing faster.

"Naruto, will you quit the pacing? It's very irritating." Sakura shouted, crushing the beetle with a rock, ending its torture.

"Well, I can't help it! Something must have happened to Hinata! We should go look for-"

"Naruto." Kakashi interrupted, finally looking up from his book.

"But Kakashi-sensei-" Naruto pleaded.

"Naruto!" Kakashi repeated.

"What?" Naruto asked.

"Behind you."

Naruto turned around to see Hinata running up to them. He was so relieved. She stopped in front of him, trying to catch her breath.

"S-Sorry I'm late, everyone..." Hinata finally said after catching her breath.

"Are you alright, Hina-chan? What happened?" Naruto asked.

"I-I just ran a l-little late. Sorry, everyone." Hinata answered, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

Naruto laughed. "Don't worry about it, Hina-chan! You're here now, that's all that matters."

Hinata looked up to see Naruto smiling at her, resulting in a faint blush and smile in return from her.

_"She's doing that cute blush again. Why does that look so damn cute? And she doesn't even try! And that beautiful smile...What the hell was wrong with me before? How could I never see this beautiful woman in front of my face all of this time?" _Naruto thought, mentally slapping himself.

"Well, now that everyone's here, we should head off now." Kakashi interjected, book closed and put away without anyone noticing.

"We have no idea how long Sasuke and Orochimaru will be there, so we have to get there as soon as possible. It's a long trip, so before we go, does everyone have everything they need?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Now be warned, we won't be stopping until a town called Hashi Machi, near the border of the Fire Country. Try to keep up."

"Hai!" everyone shouted.

Everybody then grabbed their stuff and began to walk out of the gates of Konoha. Hinata looked up Naruto and smiled, glad that she was with him, and even more glad that even though she made the whole team late, Naruto had made her embarrassment go away with what seemed like absolutely no effort. It was things like that that reminded the kunoichi how much she loved him. She was tempted to grab his hand, but decided against it, partly because she was just too shy, and partly because she didn't want to come on so strongly yet. She had some hope ever since the night before. She knew she had seen him lean in. He had been about to kiss her, that was for sure. However, she wasn't sure if it was because he liked her back, or because he was swept up in the moment. Whether he liked her back or not, she was going to confess to him on this mission. But until then, she wanted to study him a bit to see if she could figure out his feelings before then.

Naruto looked down at her and smiled when he saw her looking at him. This caused her to immediately turn away and blush, which caused Naruto to laugh softly.

Naruto leaned down and told her softly so only she could hear, "It's okay to look at me, Hina-chan, I don't mind. I'm actually flattered you would want to. So I think it's fair that you know, I was staring at you last night when we were walking. I know it might sound creepy, but I couldn't help it. You're too beautiful not to look at."

Hinata gasped a little bit. Did he just call her beautiful? She had never been called that by him before. She didn't know what to say. Maybe he really did like her back, after all.

XXXXXXX

Naruto couldn't believe what just came out of his mouth. He had meant every word, but it was like he had no control over what he said or did when he was around Hinata. She didn't seem to mind, though, so he wasn't worried. He was pretty sure he was correct in his assumption that she liked him. The only problem was making sure that he really liked her back. He wasn't quite sure if he did, or if it was just lust. He had almost kissed her the night before, and he had really wanted to. But he wasn't sure if there was anything more to it than that. He had loved Sakura for so long, he was starting to wonder if it had messed with his head. He decided to do something to test her reaction.

He gently reached out and moved a stray bit of hair out of her face. She lightly gasped at the action, not expecting something so sudden. He laughed again, loving how cute her reactions were. Then, before he could stop himself, he grasped her hand in his, squeezing lightly. Hinata's eyes widened in disbelief, as did Naruto's. He just couldn't seem to keep his actions and desires in check around her. Then a thought came to him. Why fight it? He wasn't doing anything wrong. Hinata was beautiful, cute, and seemed to like him a lot, so why fight what was making them both happy?

Naruto squeezed Hinata's hand affectionately, and this time, she squeezed back. She was still blushing, as she almost always was, but as far as Naruto was concerned, it was the cutest thing he had ever seen.

XXXXXXX

Sakura looked back to see Naruto saying something to Hinata, but it was too low for her to hear. Whatever it was made Hinata gasp. Suddenly, they began to hold hands. Sakura was shocked. Just what the hell happened the other night? Why was he holding her hand? She wasn't surprised to see Hinata enjoying it, though. She was one of the many people in the village that knew of Hinata's long-time crush on the blonde ninja. In fact, Naruto was just about the only person who hadn't known, which was hard to believe considering how obvious Hinata made it.

Sakura found herself getting irritated. She didn't know why she was getting so worked up by them holding hands. She had no right to be upset. She should be glad that Naruto was finally moving on from her. But right now all she wanted to do was slap Hinata's hand away from his and tell her to back off. She didn't understand it. It wasn't as if Naruto were hers to keep Hinata away from. She had told Naruto countless times in the past to move on. So why was it that now that he seemed to finally be doing that, she was getting upset?

She knew that what Naruto had said to her last night was true. However, she couldn't help but be pissed at him for it. What he had said was horrible. She hadn't treated him that bad, had she? And he had no right to talk about Sasuke like that. He may have betrayed the village, but she knew he must have had a good reason for it. And even if he didn't, it didn't change her love for him. She would never stop loving the Uchiha. She knew she was probably an idiot for it, knowing that even though she was mad at him for it, what Naruto had said about him had been true. He had never loved her, respected her, or cared about her back at all. He had treated Sakura like dirt. And she was enough of an idiot to still love him. But she couldn't change her heart.

But why, if she loved Sasuke so much, was she upset by the thought of Naruto and Hinata being together? She decided to ignore it. She was still mad at Naruto, but she would worry about that later. Right now she needed to focus on the mission. She needed to focus on bringing Sasuke back to Konoha. Though it was a little difficult with Naruto snickering every few minutes.

XXXXXXX

They continued to walk down the road for several more hours. It was about noon when they finally decided to take to the trees to make faster timing. Naruto wouldn't stop complaining about stopping for food, so Kakashi decided to shut him up by taking the faster way. Naruto and Hinata were no longer holding hands, proving it to be dangerous when Naruto almost fell because he was paying more attention to Hinata than his surroundings. This earned him a scolding from Kakashi and made him force himself to pay less attention to her and more to the mission, so he didn't end up dead or getting a teammate dead.

They continued on for a couple more hours, until they finally reached the town known as Hashi Machi. Naruto insisted that the first place they go is to get food, so they all decided on a small curry restaurant. They were seated at a booth, Kakashi and Sakura on one side, Naruto and Hinata on the other. They all ordered a helping of curry, except Naruto, who ordered two, despite Kakashi's warning that they were on a budget. The food came after a few minutes, steaming and smelling delicious.

"Itadakimasu!" everyone shouted, happy to finally eat after all the walking and jumping and running they did.

Before anyone was even halfway finished, Naruto was almost finished with his second bowl. Nobody knew where the whiskered ninja put it all. Hinata giggled a little, which made Naruto stop. He looked at her with his mouth full of rice, a surprised look on his face. He had never heard her laugh before, especially at him. When she noticed him staring, not realizing she had laughed out loud, she covered her mouth, trying to stop. But no matter what, Naruto's face full of food kept making her laugh.

"Hina-chan, I've never heard you laugh before. It's...It's really cute. You should do it more often." Naruto told her, with his mouth full, which only made Hinata giggle even more.

_"What the hell was that? It was just a laugh."_ Sakura thought in annoyance.

Kakashi had finished his meal, and was now reading his book while waiting for the rest of them to finish their own. Naruto kept asking if he could get another helping, but Kakashi refused to get him a third after he already got to eat more than they were supposed to spend the money on. Sakura was sitting quietly, staring daggers at Naruto when he wasn't looking. Hinata was the only one still eating, being very neat about it. When she finally finished, Kakashi signaled the waitress to bring them the check. He nearly fainted when he saw how much the bill was, thanks to Naruto. Sighing, he pulled the money out and paid the bill, giving the waitress her tip personally. Her eyes seemed to roll over him repeatedly as they all walked out the door, but he paid no attention to it, not wanting to compromise the mission with a quick fling. When they were outside the restaurant, Kakashi stopped, making them all turn to look at him.

"It's nearly five. We should find a motel to rest up at. We can continue the trip at dawn." He said, looking at the now orange tinged sky.

"But Kakashi-sensei, what if Sasuke is gone by the time we get there? We should keep going!" Naruto pleaded.

"Naruto, right now, if we kept going at the pace we are going at, we would be too tired to do anything when we get there. The whole point of the mission is to bring Sasuke back to Konoha to interrogate him, but we can't do that if we are exhausted. We would be no match for him. We'll stop for the night, and we will leave first thing in the morning, providing everybody is on time."

He gave Naruto and Hinata a look, reminding them that they could have been faster getting there if they weren't so late.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto and Hinata both replied solemnly.

Sakura stretched her toned arms in the air above her head.

"Finally. I could use the rest." she yawned.

"We all could. Let's look for a motel in town." Kakashi replied, sounding a bit tired himself.

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" they all replied back.

XXXXXXX

The four ninja found a motel near the end of town, within their budget, called Yasui Nemuri. They could only afford two rooms, so Kakashi and Sakura were in one room, and Naruto and Hinata were in the other, both rooms across from each other. Hinata blushed at the thought of sleeping in a room alone with Naruto. She knew this gave her the perfect opportunity to tell him how she felt, but it still made her nervous and embarrassed. She slowly calmed herself, reminding herself that this was a good opportunity.

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard he would be sharing a room with Hinata. His mind was going over a million things at once.

_"We're going to sleep in the same room alone together!? What do I do? What if I do or 'have' something embarrassing and she notices? I don't think I can go through with this. She's so tempting, and I don't want to do something that will make her mad or scared of me. What the hell do I do?"_ he thought, frantically.

While on the inside he was about ready to bust a fuse, he thankfully looked pretty calm on the outside. Only Sakura seemed to notice the change in him.

_"That pervert is probably throwing a silent party in his mind. He's probably going to take advantage of the entire situation, and her. And knowing how shy Hinata is, she'll probably go through with it, just to make him happy. Makes me sick just thinking about it. Wait, why am I thinking about it at all? It's none of my business, they can do what they want. I need to stop focusing on them so much and focus on the mission, and getting Sasuke back." _

Kakashi then gave them all their room keys, telling them all to wake up at about four in the morning, before walking to his room, Sakura following closely behind. Naruto and Hinata stood in the small lobby, stunned. This had been completely unexpected for the both of them. Finally, Naruto spoke to Hinata, sounding unusually nervous when compared to his usual demeanor.

"Well, we should get settled into our room, I guess." he said, rubbing the back of his head and looking away slightly.

"R-Right. We should g-get some r-rest, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied, staring down at the floor to hide her embarrassment.

They walked to their room slowly, not speaking a word on the way, which proved to make the situation even more awkward. Naruto walked up to the door and inserted the key into the lock. It got stuck for a moment, probably because the lock looked like it was decades old. After a minute, the key successfully turned and they opened the door to their room. It was a small, off-white room with a bathroom connected. On either side of the room were two queen sized beds, adorned with red comforters and white sheets and pillows. Between the beds was a black night stand with a clear vase filled with plastic red roses sitting on it. The floor was covered in beige carpet that looked very old and worn, and had several stains on it. The ceiling has water damage in several different places on it, including a big stain in the part right above one of the beds. The single window was covered by old, bent up, tangled blinds. All in all, the room looked like it was ready to explode from how badly it was maintained. Unless it already had.

The bathroom had a single shower-bathtub combination, a toilet, and a small sink in the corner. The tub looked like it hadn't been properly cleaned in years, judging from the set-in stains. There were pale blue tiles covering all of the walls, except a few places where the tile had broken off. There were four white towels hanging from a rack on the wall, and on the shelf next to the racks were a few small tubes of toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. A fogged mirror rested on the wall above the sink. They hadn't expected much, but the two of them had expected more than this. It was pathetic, but they would have to deal with it for the night.

Naruto flopped down on the bed closest to the window, throwing his bag down at the foot of the bed.

"It may not look like it, but this bed is so comfortable! Hina-chan, you have to lay on the beds!" Naruto shouted, breaking the silence.

Hinata stared at the other bed, then put her bag down at the foot of it. She walked over to the edge of the bed and sat down on it, only to jump right back up with a small squeal. Naruto sat up on his bed, wondering what was wrong.

"It's wet!" Hinata shouted.

Apparently, the water stain in the ceiling had been dripping onto the bed for a while, because the majority of the bed was soaking wet. Naruto felt bad that his bed was perfect while Hinata's was soaked, leaving her only the floor to sleep on.

"Hina-chan, you can have my bed. It's completely dry and very comfortable. Take it. I'll sleep on the floor." Naruto told her.

"I-It's okay, Naruto-kun. Keep it. I d-don't mind. Really." Hinata replied.

"Hinata-chan, I insist. Take my bed." Naruto said.

Hinata could tell he wasn't going to budge on this. Then a thought came to her mind that made her blush slightly.

"W-Well, N-Naruto-kun, you c-could sleep in it, t-too...if you w-want..." Hinata suggested, looking at the floor shyly.

Naruto wasn't sure he had heard correctly at first. If it was what Hinata wanted, he would go with it, but only if she really was okay with it. He didn't want to upset her.

"Are you sure, Hina-chan? I'm not sure I should. Isn't it inappropriate?" Naruto questioned, partly saying it to himself to wonder about.

"I-It's okay, Naruto-kun. I don't m-mind. You shouldn't h-have to sleep on the f-floor." Hinata replied, now looking him in the eyes.

"Well, alright. If you think it's okay, I won't argue it. You should change out of those clothes, though so they can dry overnight."

Hinata nodded and went to her bag to grab a tank top and sweatpants to change into. She then walked into the bathroom to change her clothes. Naruto sat on the bed, kicking off his sandals. He was really pushing his luck. First he has to share a room with her, now a bed. This was just asking for disaster. But a part of him encouraged this, wanted this. And that very same part of him left him with no control to fight the situation, whether he had agreed not to fight it anymore or not.

Naruto slipped his shirt off and put it in his bag, then flopped back onto the bed, resting his head on the pillow with his arms folded behind it, pondering the situation. He started to think that maybe this would be a good thing, as he could evaluate his feelings towards Hinata a bit further. Right as he was thnking that, the bathroom door opened to reveal Hinata in her new outfit. Naruto immediately sat up, studying her new clothing. She had a white tank top on, which somehow made her breasts look even bigger. She also wore a pair of black sweatpants, which clung to her figure in all of the right places. She looked downright sexy, and the image was permanently burned into his mind.

XXXXXXX

Hinata walked out of the bathroom to find Naruto laying on the bed without a shirt. When he saw her, he immediately sat up. This gave her a great view of his toned chest, stomach, and arms. She immediately began to blush.

"Oh, sorry, Hina-chan. I usually sleep shirtless, but I'll put my shirt back on if you feel more comfortable that way." Naruto hurried to say, grabbing his shirt out of his bag.

"N-No, Naruto-kun, it's o-okay. Do what you feel comfortable doing." Hinata assured him, staring at his chest.

"Oh, okay then. As long as you're comfortable, Hina-chan." Naruto replied, putting his shirt back in the bag.

Naruto looked back up to see that Hinata's eyes were still locked on his form, looking almost hungry.

_"She's been staring for a while...Wait, is she checking me out? Well, then again, I was doing the same thing when she walked into the room, so...Crap, this is going to be one awkward night..." _Naruto thought.

They both went silent, trying to figure out where to go from this point. Hinata finally walked forward and sat down next to Naruto at the foot of the bed. Naruto looked around the room nervously, finally resting his eyes on the clock. It was a little past seven at night, the sky outside the window now a deep, dark blue color. Hinata yawned a bit, giving away how tired she really was. Naruto decided to speak up.

"Hina-chan, we should get some sleep. We can't be late again." he said, yawning a bit while doing so.

"R-Right. We should do that." Hinata said softly.

Hinata scooted back on the bed and pulled the comforter over her form, already starting to knock out. Naruto followed soon after, pulling the sheets tightly over himself, but leaving plenty for Hinata. He made sure to leave a space about half a foot wide between them to make sure she didn't feel uncomfortable. He wanted so badly to fill by arms around Hinata and holding her all night, but he needed to respect her space. He heard her breathing even out slowly, and concluded that she was asleep. He followed very soon after, slipping into unconsciousness within minutes.

XXXXXXX

Sakura flopped onto her bed in the room she was sharing with Kakashi. It was nearly identical to the one Naruto and Hinata were sharing, except for surprisingly less water damage and stains. She looked over to see Kakashi, sitting on his bed and setting his bags down at the foot of it. He pulled out his _Icha Icha_ book, laid down on his bed, and started reading until he was ready to go to sleep. Sakura looked away and stared at the ceiling, wondering what the Copy-nin's obsession with the series of perverted books was. Finally, she sat up, grabbed her pajama outfit from her bag, and walked into the bathroom to change her clothes.

She slipped her red shirt and black shorts off of her body, kicking her sandals to the ground. She walked over to the mirror, wearing only a black bra and panties and examined her reflection. Sometimes it seriously bugged her that she was so flat-chested. Hinata was lucky that way, she had the body Sakura always wanted. She always tried to convince herself it was better this way, that her body was more equipped for fighting, but deep down she felt sad and wished she could have developed more. Maybe Sasuke would have wanted her if she had more of a body like Hinata's.

Sakura sighed sadly. She was glad they finally had the chance to bring Sasuke back to Konoha where he belonged. But she had a hunch that nothing between them would have changed. If anything, it would be worse. Naruto was right. He wouldn't respect her, and he never had. Sure, she had grown up a lot since he left, but he probably wouldn't care. But even though she knew all of this, she still loved him. She probably always would. She didn't even have Naruto to fall back on, now that he seemed to be all over Hinata.

Sakura clenched her fists tightly, until the knuckles in her hands were bright white. She couldn't figure out why the thought angered her so much, why the sight annoyed her to no end when she saw them together. Then she relaxed her hands and mind when she remembered something. Feelings of love don't go away just like that. Naruto had been in love with her for as long as she could remember, and she was fairly certain that couldn't have changed within the span of less than a day. He loved her, and she knew it would be a long time until that changed, if it ever did. She wasn't sure why this comforted her as much as it did, considering she had always found Naruto's infatuation with her to be annoying. But he had been a good friend to her, no matter what she did or said to him.

_"Naruto...This is a once in a lifetime request. Please bring Sasuke-kun back!"_

The words she told him before he tried to bring Sasuke back the first time echoed painfully in her head. He had almost died because of her request. He was bound by it, and she was pretty sure if it weren't for that, he would have given up trying to bring Sasuke back to Konoha a long time ago. They had been really good friends, even best friends, whether they had admitted it or not, but Sasuke had caused Naruto and the rest of the village so much pain after betraying everyone all for the sake of revenge that if Sakura weren't so love-struck by him, she would have given up a long time ago, too. But no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to stop loving the traitorous bastard. She hoped that when they brought him back, he would be a little kinder to her heart when she got to talk to him.

After realizing she had been staring into the mirror thinking for at least ten minutes, she took off her bra and picked up her baggy gray tee and slipped it on over her chest. She had never been more aware that you couldn't actually tell she had breasts in this shirt. She silently cursed Hinata for having those giant breasts. She suddenly came to a realization. Naruto and Hinata were sharing a room, and they had been extremely close lately. This would be the perfect opportunity for them to sleep together. And once again, for reasons she still didn't quite understand, this enraged her. She tugged on her black sweat pants, throwing the door open and stomping to her bed.

Kakashi glanced up to see what was going on so suddenly, but looked back to his book when he noticed Sakura hulking through the room, vein throbbing in her forehead. She threw back the covers on her bed, laid down, yanked them back on her body, and turned to face the wall as she prepared for sleep. Kakashi sighed, put his book down on the nightstand, then turned to face Sakura.

"You should stop being so jealous." Kakashi told the kunoichi, bluntly.

Sakura's eyes blinked open, not sure if she heard what she thought she had. She bolted up into a sitting position, looking at him in confusion.

"Huh?" she asked.

Kakashi groaned, not wanting to have to get involved in the situation, but apparently, that was impossible with teenage shinobi working with him on missions.

"Look, I don't even want to get involved in whatever is going on with the three of you, but for the sake of the mission, I'm going to do exactly that, then be done with it. It's obvious that whatever is going on with Naruto and Hinata is affecting you. It doesn't take a genius to realize that. Naruto has wanted to be with you for years, and now that he's moving on, you're so used to the attention that now that it isn't being given to you, you're lashing out at them. I've seen the looks you give him, heard the angered noises you make at the sight of them together. But, Sakura, if not for yourself and them, then for the sake of the mission, stop being so jealous and focus on our objective of bring Sasuke back. I'd think that you of all people would make that your first priority, seeing as you loved him so much. But, maybe that's just it. _Loved._ Maybe you're starting to move on, too. But I'm done here. I've said what needs to be said, and I would appreciate it if you took my advice into consideration, at least until the mission is over."

Sakura just sat in complete silence. Kakashi took this opportunity to go into the bathroom to change into his pajamas. Jealous? Kakashi thought Sakura was jealous of Naruto and Hinata? She would have laughed if it weren't so shocking. But then it hit her. Maybe he could be right. It would explain why the mere thought of them together made her want to punch everyone within arms reach, repeatedly. But it didn't make sense why she would be jealous. She had thought it had been annoying when Naruto always asked her on a date, no matter how many times she rejected him. But maybe it was because that she felt unwanted now that Sasuke was gone, and now that Naruto was back he was only paying attention to Hinata. She wanted what she couldn't have.

_"Crap. He's right. I'm jealous of Naruto and Hinata."_ Sakura thought.

Kakashi came out of the bathroom, wearing a black tank top with an attached mask to cover his face, and black sweatpants. He walked over and laid down on his bed, pulling the covers over his body and turning towards the window, ready for sleep. Sakura slowly laid back down in her bed, taking a bit to process all of what had just occurred. She was jealous. She didn't know how this was going to affect her, but she decided to try and control her emotions for the sake of the mission. She would try to talk to Naruto after the mission about this, and officially apologize for her behavior towards Hinata and him, neither of whom deserved it. She pulled the covers tighter over her body and turned towards the wall again. Before she could let herself fall asleep, she decided to say one last thing.

"Um...Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, hoping he was still awake.

"Hmm?" he answered, sounding half asleep.

"Thank you. I needed that." she replied.

"No problem, Sakura. Goodnight." he replied as he dozed off.

"Goodnight...Kakashi-sensei." she answered a moment later, knowing full well he was already asleep.

What he had said to her had struck a chord deep within her. She never thought she would be able to think of Naruto that way, but she actually wanted him now that he was unavailable. But she also realized that it was his life and he had every right to move on, and if it was with Hinata, so be it. She deserved to get what she had always wanted, she was a nice girl. Sakura smiled and closed her eyes. Soon, she fell asleep, still smiling, a tear running down her face.


	5. Complications

**So, I'm a bit later than expected with finishing this chapter, but here it is! I explained a few things you guys were wondering about in this chapter, such as why they weren't separated into rooms by gender and whatnot. Anyways, I hope you guys all enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you thought of it in the reviews! Enjoy!**

**XXXXXXX**

Hinata opened her eyes to find herself in an unfamiliar dark room. Her eyes slowly adjusted, and she took in her surroundings. After a minute, she remembered she was in a motel on a mission to retrieve Sasuke. She tried to sit up, but felt a weight on her. She looked over to see what was holding her down, and saw an arm wrapped around her waist. She looked behind her to find the owner of the arm to be Naruto. Then it dawned on her that she was sharing a bed in their room together with him.

She began to blush, but shook it off. Slowly, she slipped out of his embrace, causing him to stir in his sleep and roll over. She smiled at this, thinking he looked adorable when he slept. She looked at the clock on the wall, which read five minutes until one in the morning. Whether she liked it or not, Hinata was wide awake. With nothing to do accept sit around and do nothing, she decided to walk around the motel. She slowly opened the door to their room, putting the key into the pocket of her sweatpants, and crept out the door, careful not to wake Naruto. She shut it behind her, careful not to make a loud noise when it latched.

She began to walk down the hallway for a bit, turning at the end of the hall and entering the lobby. She walked around the room aimlessly, until she spotted a book on the surface of the reception counter. Nobody was around, so she picked up the book and flipped through it. It was called _Kakure Ganbou_. She read the first few pages of the first chapters. It was about a girl named Sasaki Hana, who had just moved to a new town. She was very shy, and when she became lost on her way home, a boy by the name of Yamada Ryuu found her and brought her to her home. Ever since then, Hana couldn't get him out of her head, but had no way to find him.

Hinata was quickly absorbed into the book, and sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby. She kept reading and reading, and time flew by quickly. Before she knew it, she had read five chapters of the book. She really felt for the character. As time progressed in the book, Hana finally found Ryuu, and fell in love with him. However, she was too shy to tell him how she felt. One day, a letter was received by Ryuu, telling him he was being drafted into a war. When he told Hana, she was devastated, but did not cry. She simply told him they would hang out again when he returned.

As Hinata read on, it was revealed that Ryuu had been killed in the war. Hana was distraught, always crying, wishing she had told him how she felt about him. She fell into a deep depression, and never left her house.

Hinata finally closed the book, not wanting to read the rest. She was crying, both for the character in her story, and at the thought of losing Naruto. She couldn't bear the thought of him dying, and even worse, without him knowing her true feelings. She needed to tell him how she felt tonight, no matter what.

XXXXXXX

Naruto opened his eyes, everything around him dark. At first, he thought he had gone blind, but then everything shifted into focus and he realized his was in the motel room he was sharing with Hinata. However, when he looked next to him, Hinata wasn't there. He brushed his hand over the spot where she had been lying. It was still warm, so he guessed she hadn't got up that long ago. He sat up in the bed, rubbing his eyes. He looked over at the clock on the wall, which now read thirty minutes past one in the morning.

He got up from the bed and went to his bag, pulling out a black t-shirt and slipping it on. He then walked over to the door, putting his spare room key in his pocket, and walked out into the hallway. He walked up and down the hallways, looking for Hinata. She was nowhere to be seen in the halls, so he began to walk to the lobby. When he reached it, what he saw made him feel like he had been stabbed in the chest. Hinata was crying, all alone in the lobby.

He quickly ran up to her, but she didn't seem to notice him coming towards her. He sat in the chair next to hers, placing a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and snapped her head up to look at him, tears running down her face. She immediately started wiping at her eyes, hiding her face from him.

"Hinata, what happened!? Why are you crying?" Naruto asked, his voice a little too loud for the quiet building at that time of night.

"D-Don't worry, N-Naruto-kun, it's n-nothing." Hinata replied, her voice trembling from crying.

"It's not nothing if it made you cry, Hina-chan. Please, tell me what happened." Naruto insisted, rubbing her back comfortingly.

Hinata looked up at Naruto, face still a bit red, but tears no longer running down her face, and smiled. Naruto looked at her, completely confused. Hinata simply held up the book in her hand, as if that explained everything.

"Eh, Hina-chan, I don't get it." Naruto said.

"It's a sad book, and I c-couldn't finish it because of t-that. That's w-why I was c-crying." Hinata replied simply, still smiling.

"Well, as long as you're alright, I'm happy, Hina-chan." Naruto cheerfully replied.

Then, before he could stop himself, he lunged at Hinata, pulling her into his tight embrace. He knew he should have stopped, but he couldn't bring himself to let Hinata out of his arms.

_"I guess I've really fallen for this girl. So be it. I'll never leave her, even if she hates me."_

Hinata was so surprised by Naruto's hug, she dropped the book onto the floor and gasped.

"N-Naruto-kun, what are you-"

"Hina-chan, I'm sorry, but I can't let you go. It just feels...It just feels _right_ to hold you." Naruto interrupted, squeezing her tightly.

After a moment of processing Naruto's words, Hinata timidly wrapped her arms around Naruto, returning his embrace. Naruto smiled, knowing how much effort it must have taken to make herself do that, seeing as she was so shy. Naruto had never felt this way before. This warm feeling that coursed through his veins was unlike anything else he had experienced. It slightly resembled the feeling he would get around Sakura, but at the same time, the two feelings were on completely different levels. This was billions of times more than anything he had felt with Sakura. He felt like if he weren't hanging on to Hinata, he would float right off of the face of the planet. He began to realize that it just might be the beginnings of love for the Hyuuga heiress.

"Hina-chan...How do you feel about me?" Naruto suddenly her.

Hinata's eyes went wide with shock, not expecting to have to tell him so suddenly. She couldn't seem to get the words to form in her mouth, nor could she move a single muscle, completely taken off-guard by his question. Finally, she began to regain some control, her mind forcing her to try and say what she had always wanted.

"I...Eto...N-Naruto-kun...Well..." she mumbled, almost inaudibly.

Naruto pulled back from the hug, looking deep in her lavender eyes. This made her even more nervous.

_"Come on, tell him! I have to tell him how I feel, right now!" _she thought.

While in reality it had only been a few minutes that they had been in the lobby together, this moment made it feel like hours to Hinata. Everything between them rested on her response. But it was so difficult when Naruto stared into her eyes so deeply, it was almost if he could read her thoughts. However, if he had such a skill, she wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

"N-Naruto-kun...I...I-"

Hinata was interrupted by Naruto placing a single finger over her lips, causing her to stop completely.

"You know what? It doesn't matter. You don't need to tell me, Hinata-hime. This will do."

Hime? Hinata could barely believe she had heard correctly. It was as if he had pulled the words straight from one of her many dreams of him. But before she could think on this for too long, she was surprised yet again when she saw Naruto leaning in towards her. He had a slightly red tint to his cheeks, but still looked as breathtaking to her as always. She found herself slowly leaning towards him, as well.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered.

"Shhh...Relax, Hime. Let me continue what was interrupted last night." Naruto whispered back.

He brought his hand up to caress her cheek, making her blush at his touch. At the short distance he was from her, he noticed the scent that lingered on her skin. He loved it. It wasn't overdone like so many women have when they cover themselves with perfume. It was natural, and he loved it.

He brushed his lips against hers, closing the gap between them and pressing into her soft lips. After a few seconds of adjusting to this wonderful feeling, Hinata kissed Naruto back, deeply. She was finally experiencing what she had always wanted from Naruto. Her dreams were finally coming true. Naruto wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss even more. He couldn't get enough of her. Kissing Hinata was the most intoxicating feeling he had ever felt, and he wanted more.

Slowly, he brushed his tongue against her bottom lip, seeking entrance. Although she was shy about it, Hinata allowed him to proceed. His tongue slid in, grazing over her lips and teeth until it found her own tongue, battling for dominance. Their tongues wrestled for a while, Hinata slowly becoming confident enough to do more with hers, until they broke apart from the kiss due to lack of air. They were both panting, faces flushed with heat from their passionate kiss.

"Wow..." was all Naruto could manage to say in response to what had just transpired.

Hinata nodded slightly, still trying to catch her breath. Then she did something with uncharacteristic confidence that surprised both herself and Naruto. She stood up from her seat, stood in front of Naruto, and then proceeded to climb on top of his lap, straddling him.

"Hina-chan?" he responded, quizzically.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and leaned in to kiss him again. She was more forceful about it this time, but made no effort to take it further than a simple kiss just yet. Naruto hungrily kissed her back, liking this bolder side of Hinata. She broke the kiss, but made no move to get off of him. Naruto stared into her eyes again, which were now welling up with tears.

"Hime, what's wrong? Did I do something to upset you?" he asked, concerned that he might have been too forceful.

Hinata smiled, looking back into his eyes, lovingly. Absolutely nothing was wrong. For the first time in her life, everything was perfect.

"Nothing's wrong, Naruto-kun, really. I'm just so happy. You have no idea how long I've wanted this." Hinata replied, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

Naruto smiled back, noticing that she didn't stutter a single time in that sentence, but chose not to bring it up in case it made her self conscious. While he found it cute, it was a habit that was best gotten over, due to the fact that it stemmed from her low level of confidence. He was glad that he was able to bring about her confident side, and hoped that he could eventually make it permanent.

Naruto leaned up and kissed her again, deeper than before. This kiss was full of love, passion, and a little bit of lust. He wanted to make her feel every bit as strong, sexy, beautiful, and confident that he knew she was, whether she showed it or not. He abandoned her lips, making her whine in protest, but it was short-lived when he suddenly started kissing and nibbling on her shoulder, all the way up her neck to her jaw. She gasped and moaned, loving every bit of it, wanting even more.

Suddenly, Naruto's hand came up to grab her breast, kneading it with his hand, repeatedly. Hinata moaned loudly, arching her back in pleasure. Naruto smirked, loving that he was making her feel so much pleasure just from a simple touch. He stopped what he was doing to her neck and kissed right above her right breast, switching his hand to her left one.

"Naruto-kun...more..." she begged, completely aroused by his actions now.

Naruto could feel his now fully hardened member aching to spring free from his confining pants, but didn't want to take things quite so far yet. Hinata could feel it poking into her crotch, which only turned her on more. She gasped when he began to suck on the spot he had kissed a moment before, hard enough to be slightly painful, but that only intensified the feeling. He finally stopped, slightly tugging the skin as he pulled away. He looked back to see the small mark he had left, dark purple and red, only an inch or two below her collar-bone. It was high enough that even if she zipped her jacket all the way up, it was still visible. Everybody would see that she was off limits, that she was only his to touch. He looked up at Hinata, eyes slightly darkened and clouded with lust. He leaned up to her ear and nibbled at the lobe, making her arch her back again. He let go of her ear, and smirked perversely.

"You're mine, Hinata-hime. You're mine, and now everyone will know it." he told her, placing his hand on the mark he left on her chest.

He then pulled her down towards him, crushing his lips into hers. He slid his tongue into her mouth roughly, giving her no chance to stop him, not that she wanted to. This time, he explored her entire mouth, massaging his tongue on the inside of her cheeks, sliding over her teeth, and finally rubbing against her tongue, coaxing it to enter his mouth. She proceeded to do the same to him, but was suddenly interrupted by a voice to the left of them.

"What in the hell!?"

XXXXXXX

Sakura stared in shock at the scene before her. Hinata was on top of Naruto in a wooden chair, straddling him, while he shoved his tongue down her throat. She looked nothing like the innocent girl Sakura knew. As far as she was concerned, Hinata looked like a complete whore. Sakura immediately averted her eyes, feeling bad that she had walked in on them, and feeling even worse that she had thought such horrible things about Hinata. She had no right to judge her when her eyes were clouded by jealousy.

Hinata immediately hopped off of Naruto, embarrassed that she had been caught in such a situation. She immediately began to cover the spot Naruto had left, but then stopped, remembering that he said he had wanted everyone to see the mark as proof that she was his.

Naruto fumbled around nervously, never being caught in a situation like this before. Finally he rested his arms in his lap, looking down and twiddling his thumbs like Hinata. He saw her cover the spot, and though he wanted to tell her not to, he decided it was alright, considering it was Sakura who had found them. However, when she stopped and took her hand away from it, he was glad.

"Sakura...I...I don't know what to say..." Naruto mumbled, keeping his eyes lowered.

"It's...It's okay, Naruto, you don't have to say anything. I'm sorry." Sakura replied, a small blush across her cheeks.

Naruto looked up, not believing his eyes. Had she just apologized? Was it for walking in on them, or for everything since the night before, or for all of the years of playing with his feelings?

"I'm sorry for how I've been acting to you all of these years, Naruto. Especially lately." Sakura said, as if reading his mind.

Naruto only stared at her, not knowing what to say.

"I...I let my feelings get in the way of your happiness with Hinata, " she continued, "I'll try to stay out of it from now on. I'm sorry, really. I'll just go now."

She turned back around and began to walk down the hallway towards their rooms.

"Sakura-chan..." Naruto called, but she kept walking, not so much as turning to look back at them.

Naruto looked up to see Hinata looking a little down. He stood up and walked up to her, reaching out to touch her face. He turned her to look towards him, staring into her eyes.

"Hime, what's wrong? You look unhappy." Naruto asked, concerned over her sudden change of mood.

"I-It's nothing. It's just...Didn't Sakura-san look a little...sad?" Hinata answered.

"Now that you mention it, she did. I thought she was going to get all mad at us again. She wouldn't even make eye contact, and she was very quiet." Naruto replied, thinking back to how she had acted towards them, compared to how she had before.

"Maybe we should go talk to her, Naruto-kun." Hinata suggested.

"Well, maybe we should wait. She looked like she wanted to be left alone. And besides, we should go back to our room, Hinata-hime."

Hinata looked at him, not understanding what was so important that they needed to go back yet.

"Why do we need to do that, N-Naruto-kun?"

Naruto chuckled, giving a perverted grin. He suddenly grabbed Hinata around the waist, pulling her closer to him. He leaned in close to her face, but not quite touching. His lips brushed against hers lightly, making her lightly blush.

"Because, Hime, I'm nowhere near done with you." he replied, closing the gap between their lips and kissing her deeply.

Hinata took a moment to respond to the kiss, but finally kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. When they broke the kiss, Hinata's legs were shaking. Suddenly, Naruto lifted Hinata off the ground, holding her bridal style. He carried her down the hall towards their room, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world. He couldn't believe he had this beautiful woman all to himself, let alone that she would like him in the first place. He looked down at her, locking eyes with the Hyuuga heiress, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. Hinata blushed at this, burying her face into Naruto's chest.

When they finally reached the door, Naruto managed to balance Hinata onto his one arm while fishing out his key. He managed to unlock the door on the first attempt this time, and pushed it open. He brought Hinata over to the bed and laid her down gently. He climbed onto the bed and over her body, staring down at her. He leaned down and kissed her lips softly. She closed her eyes, melting into the kiss and forgetting about everything around her.

Naruto suddenly realized he hadn't even asked if she wanted to do this. He had been so caught up in the moment, for all he knew, she just didn't want to disappoint him by saying no. He really wanted to, but he had to put her feelings into thought. He would hate himself if he forced her to give it up to him.

Suddenly, Naruto broke the kiss. She was about to protest, but he spoke before she could.

"Hinata-hime, are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to, it's alright if you say no. I just don't want to pressure you to do something you're not ready for. We have so much time ahead of us." Naruto told her.

Hinata paused, taking a moment to think about what Naruto had said to her. She really wanted to make love to Naruto, but perhaps this wasn't the best time. They were on a mission, after all.

"W-Well, I mean...I do want to, but maybe this isn't the best time. We should wait until we're done with the mission. I'm sorry, Naruto-kun." Hinata told him.

"Hime, don't apologize. It's alright. This can wait until we return to Konoha." Naruto replied, climbing off of her and into a sitting position at the edge of the bed.

Hinata sat up and smiled. She finally had Naruto for herself. She finally confessed. Then it dawned on her that she actually didn't get to tell him how she felt. She had more confidence now that Naruto was hers, so she decided to come right out with it and tell him.

"Naruto-kun, I need to tell you-"

Naruto yawned loudly, unintentionally interrupting Hinata.

"I'm sorry, Hina-chan, what were you saying? I'm kind of sleepy again." Naruto told her, eyes half shut.

"Oh, i-it wasn't important. We should go back to sleep, Naruto-kun. We have a couple hours to rest before we have to be up." Hinata replied.

She decided against telling him she loved him while he was half asleep. She wanted it to be perfect, so decided to tell him when they woke up.

"Alright then, Hina-chan, let's go back to sleep. But first, let me kiss you goodnight."

Naruto reached up and put his hand under her chin, pulling her face closer to his until their lips met. Neither broke it nor took the kiss further for a while, just enjoying it for what it was. Finally, they pulled apart, smiling at each other, both blushing slightly. Naruto then moved to his spot nearest the window, pulling the blanket down for Hinata. She laid down in the empty spot next to Naruto, who pulled the blanket over her to keep her warm. She was then surprised when his arms wrapped around her and he snuggled behind her, his warm breath on the back of her neck.

"Goodnight, Hime." he said softly, falling asleep with the last words.

Hinata smiled, grateful she had been assigned this mission. It had changed her life in the best way possible, and she could never be more thankful for it. She closed her eyes, and slowly began drifting off to sleep. Before she could, she used what remained of her consciousness to reply.

"Goodnight, Naruto-kun."

XXXXXXX

Sakura opened the door to her room. She saw that Kakashi was still asleep so she quietly shut the door to the room and walked over to her bed. She glanced at the clock, which read about a quarter past two in the morning. There was no point in sleeping at this point, as she would just be up again in less than a couple hours. She sat down on the bed in silence, staring down at the floor. She rubbed her eyes and noticed her hand was wet. She hadn't even realized she had been crying on the way back to her room.

_"Damn it. Why did this all have to happen? Why am I so interested in Naruto all of a sudden? Why can't I just be happy for my friend?"_ she thought to herself.

She started to wonder if it was because of the fact that he was the only one so far that had called her on her crap. Naruto was probably the nicest, most pure-hearted guy she knew, but even he had his limits. If Naruto had snapped at her, she must have really gone too far. Sure, Sasuke had called her on it all the time when he was still in Konoha, but it hadn't hit her as deep as it had when Naruto had done it. Sasuke treated her like crap, but Naruto treated her like a goddess. And she was too stupid to realize that she should have been trying to be with Naruto the whole time, instead of the Uchiha.

She began to sob, not even caring if she woke up Kakashi at this point. This mission had changed so many things in the span of only a couple days. Why was it always anything involving Sasuke that ruined things for the kunoichi? She felt like a poor excuse for a kunoichi. Shinobi were taught not to show emotion for any reason, and she couldn't even keep from crying about her own jealousy.

"Sakura."

She suddenly froze when she heard her name. She looked up to see Kakashi standing next to her. She had been so consumed in her sadness that she hadn't even noticed him get up and walk over. She immediately started wiping her eyes, trying to hide the fact that she was crying, even though it was probably her crying that had woken him up in the first place. He grabbed her wrist, stopping her from wiping them away from her eyes. Her arm fell limp in his grasp, not trying to fight him on it. He slowly sat down on the bed next to her, releasing her hand. She was looking at the floor again, not wanting to meet his one-eyed gaze and feel his judgment. When Sakura stayed quiet, Kakashi finally spoke up.

"Sakura, I know earlier I said I was scolding you for the sake of the mission...But that doesn't mean I'm not willing to listen if you need someone to talk to. You were my student. I've seen you grow from a love-obsessed pre-teen with nearly bipolar emotions into a beautiful and highly skilled young woman. Don't think for a second that I don't care about your feelings. You can always talk to me."

Sakura finally looked up at him, tears still running down her face, but didn't make a sound. Kakashi was looking back at her, and Sakura was surprised to find that he wasn't judging her with that eye, but actually showing concern over her. They had never been especially close, just training, missions, and the occasional wave at each other when walking through the and seeing each other. So what Sakura did next completely took both Kakashi and herself by surprise. She hugged him.

She couldn't have stopped herself if she tried. All she needed right now was to hold onto someone and cry. She wrapped her arms around Kakashi's neck and buried her face into his shoulder, crying her eyes out.

Kakashi didn't know what to do, so he just sat there for a moment, letting her cry on him. It made him a bit sad to know that Sakura had been hurting so much, and not even for Sasuke this time. He slowly reached up and put his arms around her, giving her plenty of time for her to pull away if he was making her uncomfortable. But she didn't loosen her grip on him a bit. With one arm, her began rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Sensei, I don't know what to do..." Sakura whispered, her sobbing considerably quieter now.

Kakashi sighed. He didn't know what to do, either. He wanted his students to get along and be happy, to live a long life full of joy, even if the cursed life of a shinobi interfered with it. He had seen Sakura suffer so much in the years he had known her, it hurt his heart to have see her crying like this.

"I wish I knew what to tell you, Sakura, but even I don't know what you should do." Kakashi replied.

Sakura slowly pulled back from him to look him in the eye. She was no longer crying, but she still had tear trails on her face that she neglected to wipe away.

"Sensei, why does nobody love me?" Sakura asked.

This question took Kakashi by surprise, his eyes widening.

"Sakura, what are you talking about? You have so many friends who love you and-"

"That's not what I mean and you know it, Kakashi-sensei. Friends are one thing, but I want someone to love me deeper than that. I always wanted Sasuke to love me back, and he never did. I used to think it was because I was so weak and useless, so I started training and became stronger. But even now, I'm sure he won't show me any more respect than he did back then. Even Naruto doesn't love me anymore. Why, Sensei? What is wrong with me?" Sakura said, cutting him off.

Kakashi sighed again. This conversation was getting too uncomfortable for him, but she needed him right now.

"Sakura, you have to understand that Sasuke has been obsessed with revenge ever since he was a little boy. He had no time or need for anyone's love but his family who had been mercilessly slaughtered. And well, Naruto had always loved you, but I guess he got tired of being rejected. You can't really blame him for moving on."

"I know...I don't blame him." she replied.

"See, that shows how much you've grown. You're more mature now, and you could easily find love with someone else. I'm sure there are plenty of men in the village who would jump at the chance to spend their lives with you." Kakashi told her, smiling at his student.

"And what about you?" Sakura asked.

"What about me?" Kakashi asked, confused by her sudden question.

"What do you think of me, Kakashi-sensei? Do you find me attractive? Sexy? Would you ever sleep with me?" Sakura asked, leaving him speechless.

He stared back at her, not knowing what to say. It was at least a minute of complete silence before he spoke up.

"Sakura, where is this coming from?" he asked her.

"You said plenty of men would jump at the chance. You're a man, right? If what you said is true, would you want to?"

Kakashi didn't want to answer this. Sure, he'd looked at her a couple times like that, just for a moment. After all, he was bound to at some point, it wasn't like he was her father. And she had developed quite nicely over the years. But that didn't make any of it right. He may not be her father, but he was almost old enough to be.

When he didn't show any sign of answering, Sakura suddenly pushed him back on the bed. Before he could even try to get back up, she had crawled on top of him and pinned him down.

"Sakura, what are you doing!?" Kakashi asked, his voice slightly frantic.

"If you really meant what you said, prove it. Sleep with me, Kakashi-sensei." she said.

"You don't realize what you're asking me to do, Sakura. You should know full well that I can't do that!" he nearly shouted back.

Sakura laughed to herself at Kakashi's reaction. With all of the porn he read, she would have thought he would rip her clothes off in an instant at the request.

"I know exactly what I'm saying. What's the matter? Don't you want to?" she asked, her tone almost playful.

"What's the matter, you ask? Sakura, I'm almost twice your age, you're my _student, _and on top of all of that, you're still a virgin. Don't try to lie and say you're not, because it's obvious you're inexperienced. I can't sleep with you." Kakashi insisted.

"Sensei, I'm not a little girl anymore. I have no fantasies of my first kiss or first lay. I'm a kunoichi, and I have to face the reality that all shinobi do. We don't get happy endings. So why wait until it's too late to experience what it feels like to sleep with a man? Can you really look me in the eyes and tell me you're not the least bit curious about it?"

Before he could even answer, she lowered her form onto his to straddle him, still pinning him by his arms, and _felt_ his answer. He closed his eyes and cursed himself for having so little control over his body. She smiled down at him, knowing full well she had just won. However, Kakashi wasn't one to give up so early into a fight.

"Sakura, why are you so set on doing this?" he asked.

"I just told you why," she replied. "Shinobi don't get happy endings. I may never find someone to spend my life with, let alone sleep with. Sure, I still love Sasuke and Naruto, but neither of them want me, so I need to move on. Besides, I could end up getting a mission in the future that requires me to sleep with an enemy. The experience would be very useful."

Kakashi cursed himself again. Not only was his resolve quickly dissipating, she was putting up several good arguments. He didn't know if he could take much more. Just as he thought that, she decided to take things further.

Sakura grabbed one of his wrists and lifted his hand to cup her breast. Kakashi's eyes went wide, not expecting her to do something so bold. She wasn't wearing a bra, either. It wasn't the biggest he'd felt, but it still felt wonderful to touch. He'd been going through a bit of a dry spell with women lately, so the sudden change of pace made it even more difficult for him to control himself.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep with me, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked "Your body says otherwise."

Kakashi was about to answer, when she suddenly rocked her hips forward and back once. She stared back at him, gauging his reaction, and was pleased when she felt him twitch under her at the movement. Right now, anything he said in protest would be a lie. He wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off and ravage her virgin body. But his morals kept kicking back in, reminding him that he shouldn't be doing any of this, that he shouldn't be groping his student, and that he especially shouldn't be _liking_ it. However, it all felt so right, he couldn't bring himself to lower his hand from her breast.

She suddenly brought her hand back up to the one cupping her breast, and she roughly pressed it into her even more. Kakashi couldn't take any more of her teasing. Faster than she could see, he shot up until he was sitting upright, her form now straddling him in his lap, and brought both hand up to her breasts. He started kneading them roughly, making her arch her back and moan. He pulled his hands away long enough to reach down and grab the bottom of her shirt, lifting it over her head, revealing her pale breasts and lean torso. He then continued massaging her breasts, her nipples now hard from all of the attention. He lowered his hands to her hips and jerked her forward and backward in his lap a few times, making them both gasp in pleasure. He leaned his neck down and licked her breast, sending jolts of pleasure all through her body. He sucked lightly on her nipple, right hand coming up and pinching the nipple on her other breast. Sakura moaned loudly, and this drove Kakashi nearly insane.

Suddenly, he flipped her onto her back on the bed, his form now hovering over hers. He leaned down to kiss her neck, licking down from there to her shoulder, and biting lightly. She arched her back again in pleasure and slight pain, only intensifying the feeling. He reached down and slipped his hand under her sweatpants, sliding his fingers over her smooth feminine folds. She was soaking wet, and he wanted inside her liquid heat to the point that he couldn't contain himself anymore. Without warning, he plunged his middle finger into her hot sex. Sakura moaned loudly, adjusted herself to the intruding finger. He began pumping in and out of her, causing her to scream in pleasure.

"Aahh! Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi stopped everything, freezing at hearing that name. She had called him Kakashi-_sensei._ He suddenly realized how much he had lost control,his mind clouded with lust had caused him to nearly take Sakura's virginity. She had told him it was alright, hell, she practically begged for it, but she wasn't thinking rationally. She had just been crying her eyes out for Kami's sake. No matter what way he looked at it, he was taking advantage of his student.

He removed his hand from her pants, stopping everything. Sakura looked up at him, wondering what had happened. Before she even realized what was happening, Kakashi had formed the seals for a sleeping jutsu and pressed his fingers to the sides of her head, making her pass out. He grabbed her shirt and slipped it back onto her, then pulled the covers over her sleeping form. He would let her sleep until it was time to leave for the next part of the mission. He looked down to realize he still had a problem to deal with before he cold even think about sleeping. Feeling like a dirty old man for even touching Sakura in the slightest inappropriate way, he walked to the bathroom to finish off what remained of what was officially the most confusing and shameful moment of his existence.

XXXXXXX

Naruto awoke to a loud, repetitive sound. When it stopped, he sank back into the mattress, arms wrapped around Hinata. Then the noise started again. Naruto opened one eye to see where it was coming from. He finally realized someone was knocking on the door. Carefully, he slipped away from Hinata, and slid out of the bed. He walked over to the door and cracked it opened it, leaving the latch-lock attached, just in case. He opened the door to find Kakashi standing outside of it, looking very impatient.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's wrong?" Naruto asked the masked man.

"Well, I've been knocking for almost ten minutes. That aside, we need to be leaving in about fifteen minutes. I decided to play it safe and wake you two up myself." he replied.

Naruto wondered if that's really all that was wrong, because the Copy-nin looked downright exhausted and irritated. He decided it was best not to press him about it, so he simply nodded and closed the door, telling him they would be out in ten minutes.

He walked to the bed he shared with Hinata to wake her up, but stopped when he saw the display in front of him. Hinata was sprawled out on the bed, covers only on her left knee. She was sound asleep, her chest rising and falling steadily, her mouth parted slightly. She had a faint blush across her face, and her long, dark blue hair was fanned out all over the bed. She looked so peaceful, Naruto didn't want to have to wake her up. He slowly leaned over her form and planted a kiss to her lips, making her stir awake.

"N-Naruto-kun...?"

Naruto smiled down at her, watching her slowly wake up. Her pale lavender eyes slowly fluttered open, staring into his bright blue ones. She smiled up at him, delighted to have been woken up by her love like this.

"Time to wake up, Hime. We have to leave the motel soon." he told her, softly brushing his lips over hers.

Hinata stuck her bottom lip out slightly in a pout that Naruto almost missed, not wanting to leave their bed. She had never wanted a mission to be over so quickly, wanting nothing more than to be back in Konoha with Naruto and just relax together.

"Do we really have to leave so soon? I want to stay here with you, Naruto-kun." Hinata pleaded, staring back with loving eyes, increasing her pout.

Naruto laughed, finding her actions adorable. He pressed his forehead to hers, looking lovingly into her pale eyes.

"Believe me, if I could, I'd stay in bed with you all day long, Hime. But for the time being, we have to get moving." he replied.

The blonde shinobi then kissed her forehead and stood up, holding his hand out for her to help her up. She reached out and grabbed his hand, and he suddenly yanked her up into his arms, earning a surprised squeal from her. She snuggled into his bare chest, giggling a bit. Naruto reached down and lifted her face so she was looking at him, then leaned down and kissed her deeply. After a moment, he finally broke the kiss when he realized they had already wasted five minutes.

"Come on, we have to get dressed and get our stuff together. We can't be late again." he told her, forcing himself to release her from his embrace.

Naruto let Hinata go change in the bathroom first, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable changing in the same room as him, although he couldn't see why that would even be a problem after last night. While she was in there, he grabbed a black shirt out of his bag and slipped it over his head. He found his jacket, zipped it over his body, and finally slipped his sandals onto his feet. Hinata came out of the bathroom as he was tying his forehead protector on, fully dressed with a hairbrush in hand.

"I'm done if you need the bathroom, Naruto-kun." she told him, running the brush through her long, dark hair.

"Thanks, Hina-chan." he replied. He smiled at her before walking into the bathroom to brush his teeth. When he finished, he splashed some water on his face to fully wake himself up, and came out into their room, wiping his face with a towel. He looked to see that she had packed all of their stuff back into their bags and everything was ready to go.

"Are you ready to go, Naruto-kun? I packed everything up." Hinata asked.

"I'm ready, we can leave anytime." he replied.

They grabbed their bags and walked out of the room into the lobby to find Kakashi waiting for them. Sakura, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, you two made it on time today. Good job." Kakashi stated, a bit sarcastic.

It was obvious something was bothering the masked man greatly, but Naruto thought against asking about it, not wanting to start the day off on a sour note.

"Oi, where's Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"She's still in the room gathering her things. Hopefully, we won't be late every day on this mission, but it doesn't look like that's going to be possible." he replied, sighing.

"Sensei, are you sure you should be commenting on other people being late? You've left us waiting for over an hour before." Naruto questioned, not seeing how it was fair for Kakashi to be judging them on punctuality.

Right when Kakashi was about to reply about how Naruto should worry about himself instead of pointing out Kakashi's flaws, Sakura came running up to them.

"Sorry about that, everyone, I hope you weren't waiting too long." she told them all, setting her bag down with a loud thud.

She looked at Kakashi and smiled, but then noticed how exhausted and irritated he looked, and wondered if it was because of her. She blushed a bit, looking away, but blushed even more when she saw Hinata and Naruto and remembered what she had witnessed last night. She sighed and stared at the floor, feeling completely out of place.

"Well, now that everyone is finally here, we can check out and get moving. Everyone hand me your keys." Kakashi stated, holding his hand out.

After everyone gave him their keys, he handed them to the person at the front desk, thanking them, and they all walked out of the building. It was pitch dark outside, still very early in the morning. They began to make their way out of town, not saying another word as they walked. There was an obvious tension in the group, and it was hard to figure out just what was the problem. About twenty minutes after they were out of town, Kakashi suddenly stopped walking and turned to talk to the team.

"Look, I realize not everyone is getting along right now, all for many different reasons, but at least for this mission I need everybody to cooperate and work as a team, whether you feel awkward or not. Is that understood?" Kakashi asked.

Everyone simply nodded, causing him to sigh in relief a bit. Before he started moving again, he spoke up once more.

"Good. Now, before we continue, does anyone have any questions?"

Everyone was quiet, signaling that nobody had anything to ask. Kakshi began to turn around and continue walking, when Hinata spoke up.

"Eto...Kakashi-sensei...Why did you have us stay in rooms the way we did? Usually on missions, the women stay in a separate room than the men." she asked, shyly.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that, too, Kakashi-sensei. Why's it different this time?" Naruto added.

Kakashi smiled a bit, glad they picked up on that detail of the mission.

"That's a good question, Hinata. I decided to have the pairings this way in order to better compliment each other's strengths. Konoha is not the only village out there that wants to capture Sasuke ever since he went with Orochimaru, so there is a risk of us being ambushed on the way there by shinobi from other counties. I paired Naruto with Hinata because of Hinata's Byakugan and her precision techniques that need only a few hits to completely disable an enemy, and Naruto's high stamina and chakra reserves that are perfect for close combat, distractions, and attacking in numbers, such as his shadow clones. And the pairing of Sakura and myself works well because of my speed and my Sharingan, along with Sakura's incredible strength and medical skills. So in the end, this is the best strategy, and we should use these pairings throughout the mission. Understood?"

Everyone stared at him for a moment, taking in what he had said. It all actually made a lot of sense. They all nodded, understanding his reasons now.

"Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, I trust everyone is ready for a long day of travel. We won't be making any stops until we reach Yugakure, about five hours from here at the very least, and that's at full speed. No exceptions."

"Hai, Kakashi-sensei!" they all replied.

"Alright then, let's get on our way." he told the team, leading them forwards on the long, wide path towards Yugakure.


	6. Confessions and Confrontations

**WOW. I have been going on and off from being sick, to being lazy, and back to being sick again. All throughout the time, I had a bit of writers block, but I was determined to get this chapter out before a month had passed. So I did, though cutting it close. It seems some people were bothered by the KakaSaku moment in the previous chapter. Sorry to tell you that, while I enjoy the constructive criticism as long as you aren't mean about it, that doesn't change anything I have planned for them or don't have planned for them. Whatever I have written into this story has some kind of purpose. Hell, even Lee's little outburst from Chapter 1 might come in handy later in the story. Thank you, those who have been reading so far, and those who are new to the story. A shout out to those who review and recommend this story, you guys help out a bunch! I have posted a poll on my profile that I would appreciate those who have any suggestions or ideas for the story to go to. Now, I'm going to stop rambling, because after almost a month, I'm sure you want to stop reading my little commentary and get to the actual story. One last thing, though. The little (*) next to Raku is because her name accentuates her character. Raku means pleasure in Japanese. Now that you know that little bit of useless trivia, I'll let you get along to the story. Thanks, enjoy! Please, review this story when you finish reading it! Arigato! ^_^**

**XXXXXXX**

  
The sun shined brightly down upon the four shinobi. It was a nice, bright morning, and the four had been walking for hours on the path that led towards Yugakure. They were all very tired, but they all refused to stop, feeling that the mission was more important than their sore feet. The mission had, for the most part, been almost completely silent since leaving the motel. There would be the occasional question or the occasional attempt at small talk, but for the most part, everyone kept quiet, not wanting to make anything worse then it already was. The only sounds came from their footsteps, along with the occasional chirping of a bird or other sounds from the creatures that lived in the area.

Kakashi and Sakura were at the head of the group, and Naruto and Hinata where walking in the back, a couple paces behind them. They were walking along a long dirt path in the countryside, the only residents having been passed by the shinobi miles back. There was a huge expanse of grass and trees on each side, and a small lake could be seen in the distance. It was very peaceful, but they all paid no attention to this as they walked along. Everyone was too buried in their thoughts to say anything, and it was causing a lot of tension.

Kakashi looked up at the sky, noting the sun's position in the sky. He guessed it to be about nine in the morning. That meant that they had been walking for about five hours non-stop, although it felt like it had been days with the tension surrounding all of them. He sighed, exhausted with all that had transpired in the past couple days.

Why did everything have to get so complicated on this mission? Especially the whole situation with Sakura. He couldn't even look at her after what had happened. Why the hell did she try to sleep with him? He couldn't stop thinking about it, about how he almost lost control and made a huge mistake with her when she wasn't thinking clearly. The weight of it all was crushing him, but he forced himself to carry on for the sake of the mission. After that, he just might consider taking some time off for much needed rest.

Sakura stared down at her feet, keeping a quick pace to keep in time with Kakashi. She felt completely ashamed of how she had acted the night before. All of her emotions had clouded her judgment and she had almost made a horrible mistake by sleeping with her sensei. It wasn't as if she had ever looked at him in that way. While he wasn't bad looking, she had never tried to think of him as anything more than her old teacher and friend. She was sure that if anyone else had been sharing the room, she would have done the same thing to them.

She had wanted something to get her mind off of Naruto and Sasuke, and now she had even more going through her head. It was all so confusing, she could barely think straight. Not only did she have newfound feelings for the blonde shinobi, seemingly out of nowhere, she was now trying to push back the new thought that was pushing its way to the top of her list of crazy developments. She just couldn't shake away the curiosity of what it would be like to be with Kakashi. But just as soon as the thought popped up, a million thoughts to counter it slammed down in her mind. It was wrong, and she knew it was wrong. He probably hated her for what she had done, and she wouldn't blame him a bit. She blushed in embarrassment, not taking her eyes off the ground for a second, for fear of meeting his gaze and completely losing her grip on her emotions.

Naruto stretched his arms over his head and yawned. This mission was starting to take it's toll on even him. But he couldn't complain much when this mission had caused something great between Hinata and himself. He looked over at her and smiled, a warm feeling settling in his chest when she smiled back at him. He looked up at the sky and frowned, thinking about what had happened with Sakura. Why had she been in the lobby last night, and why did she suddenly apologize? She had looked like she wanted to say something else when she left, and it was starting to bug him that he couldn't figure out what was going on with her.

He looked away from the sky to look at her, but she was staring at the ground, the same expression on her face as last night. What had happened that made her completely change her attitude towards him in only a few hours? He wished he could read her mind and find out what exactly she was thinking, because this whole situation was exhausting.

Meanwhile, Hinata walked along, virtually oblivious to everything. She was completely happy with the events that had transpired in the past few days. Naruto came back to Konoha, and for the first time, he really noticed her. And she had gained enough courage to take the matter into her hands enough that she had finally achieved her one and only wish. She finally had Naruto's heart to herself. It looked like he was completely over Sakura, and she was glad for that.

However, the situation with Sakura seemed to be unresolved, in a way. Naruto was over her, but she seemed different somehow. She had never seen Naruto the way he had seen her, but Hinata saw the look in her eyes when she walked in on them the night before. It was complete and utter sadness, and Hinata felt bad for her. She wondered if Sakura was sad because Naruto had moved on from her. Maybe Sakura really did see Naruto that way, and could just never admit it. She pushed these thoughts away, not wanting to think about such sad things when she was finally able to be completely happy.

"We'll be there within the hour."

Everyone stopped and looked at Kakashi, surprised by the sudden statement. They had all been so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they didn't understand what he meant at first. When he noticed their confused faces, he clarified what he meant.

"Yugakure. We've been keeping a good pace, and because of that, we'll be there a little ahead of schedule. We'll stop to rest there within the hour." Kakashi told them.

Although nobody was willing to admit it, they were all relieved that they could rest soon. The mood lightened a bit, and the trip seemed to go by a bit faster after that. After about a half hour they were walking through the gates of Yugakure.

They found a small motel near the entrance of the village and decided to check in there for the day. It wasn't particularly expensive looking, but it was in a bit better shape than the last motel. There were no water stains on the ceilings, and the sheets in the rooms were white enough to prove that they were washed regularly. It also had an onsen attached to it for the guests to bathe at. All in all, it was a pretty good deal.

Naruto laid his bags down on his bed in the motel room. This time, he was not able to share a room with Hinata, much to his dismay. Kakashi had made it clear to all of them that, while the pairings were initially a good plan, too much had occurred that complicated the mission to continue with it. Naruto and Kakashi were in one room, and Sakura and Hinata were in the other.

Naruto laid back on the bed, sighing. He was sore from all of the constant walking and carrying bags. Kakashi walked in soon after, dumping his bags on the floor. He sighed loudly, completely worn out. Instead of lying down, he opened his bag and pulled a towel out of it. Naruto looked up at him questioningly.

"I'm going to go relax in the onsen for a while. You're welcome to join if you want." Kakashi explained.

Naruto shot up from the bed, seemingly full of energy. He grabbed a towel from his bag and ran out of the room before Kakashi could even turn around to leave. Kakashi chuckled to himself, wondering where the blonde got so much energy. He turned to leave the room and nearly ran into Naruto running back into the room.

"What? Did you forget something?" he asked.

"Eh...Well...Where exactly is the onsen?"

Kakashi smiled and walked out of the room.

"Follow me, Naruto." he called back behind him.

XXXXXXX

Naruto slowly stepped into the onsen, letting his body adjust to the high heat of the water, Kakashi following soon after. They both exhaled deeply as the soreness in their muscles ebbed away in the heat. All of the tension in their bodies disappeared as they relaxed. Neither said anything for a while, just enjoying the bath. Finally, Naruto decided to say something.

"Kakashi-sensei, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm? Sure, what is it?" Kakashi replied, not even looking up.

"Well, I was just wondering...What was bothering you so much this morning?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi froze, not expecting to be questioned about something like that. He thought he had masked his irritation pretty well, but apparently not. If even Naruto noticed, probably everyone had, especially Sakura. He didn't want her to feel guilty about it. After all, she hadn't been thinking straight. He sighed, realizing there was no way out of this.

"Well, Naruto...A lot of things happened last night."

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I'm not sure how to explain it. It's complicated." he replied.

Well, it wasn't a complete lie.

"Complicated? How?" Naruto asked, oblivious to the nervous tone in Kakashi's voice.

"Well, I guess the best way to put it is that Sakura is having a rough time right now."

Naruto looked at Kakashi, not really understanding what he meant. Sure, she had been acting a little weird, but Sakura had always been a little weird. Naruto sighed, deciding he would never completely understand women.

"Well, is she better now?" he asked after a moment.

"I'm not even sure about that myself, Naruto. A lot has happened recently."

"Like what?" Naruto asked him.

Kakashi sighed. Could Naruto really be so dense? It was pretty obvious how Sakura felt about him. But then again, Naruto had never been the brightest person. Still, it wasn't his place to tell the blonde.

"Open your eyes to how those around you feel. That's all I can really say, Naruto." he said, cutting the conversation short.

Naruto thought for a moment, not understanding what Kakashi was telling him. Had he done something to hurt Sakura? He knew he had yelled at her and she was upset about that, but he thought she had gotten over it since she had been acting nicer. What was he missing? When he couldn't figure it out, he started getting frustrated and decided to worry about it later. He had come to the onsen to relax, not create more problems for himself.

Kakashi decided to leave the conversation at that, not wanting to go into it further and accidentally let it slip to Naruto what else had happened in the motel last night. Naruto seemed to leave the topic, which relieved the copy-nin. He brushed his hand through his silver mess of hair, wondering if things would get a bit better soon. If he could get everyone to cooperate for the rest of the time, they might just be able to pull off this mission successfully. As if Naruto were reading his mind, he spoke up again.

"Hey, Sensei? Can I ask you something else?" Naruto asked, his tone a little more serious.

"Sure, what is it?" Kakashi replied.

"Well, it's about bringing Sasuke back..." he said, looking down at the water.

"Oh...Well, what's bothering you?" he questioned.

"Well, I'm a bit worried. I mean, I couldn't bring him back the first time when he left. I wasn't strong enough. And now he's been training with Orochimaru for three years, so he's probably a lot stronger."

"And you're worried you won't be able to bring him back again." Kakashi said, more of a confirmation than an actual question.

Naruto nodded, sadly.

"Well, I'm not sure what to tell you, Naruto. We don't know what will happen. We can only hope for the best and try as hard as we can. I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth. I won't lie to you, there's a chance we'll have no choice but to attack with intent to kill, Hokage's orders be damned. We just have to hope it doesn't come to that..." Kakashi told him.

Kakashi watched Naruto's face turned grim. Obviously this mission was going to be hard for the blonde. Whether he admitted it or not, he still considered Sasuke a friend, even though he went against his village and friends. Kakashi knew that Naruto probably still had some hope that he could get through to his revenge-obsessed former teammate. It was small, but the hope was still there, perhaps in all of them.

"I thought you might say something like that. I'm...I'm not sure I could do that." Naruto told him.

"Well, we'll have to see what happens." Kakashi replied.

"Yeah. You're right. Thanks, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi looked back at Naruto. He looked pretty down, and he knew he hadn't helped that at all. He reached out and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, smiling at him, even thought it was covered by the mask. Naruto looked and saw the familiar eye crease Kakashi had when smiling, and Naruto's face lit up a bit. He shouldn't be worried when he had his team to back him up. They'd bring Sasuke back no matter what.

"Eh, one last question, Sensei."

"What's that, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Why are you wearing your mask in the water?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi was surprised, forgetting he even wore it. It felt like part of his skin half of the time. He chuckled at the change of topics, confusing Naruto a bit.

"Oh, don't worry about it." he replied.

"Come on, tell me, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto pleaded.

"Another time, another time. Let's just relax a bit more." Kakashi said.

"Well, alright." Naruto said, giving up.

He leaned his head back and closed his eyes for a while as he enjoyed the hot water. As he sat there, he wondered what Hinata was up to.

XXXXXXX

Hinata slowly stepped into the heat of the onsen. She hadn't wanted to sound like she was complaining, but she was pretty sore from all of the walking. When she found out that the motel had one, she immediately had the urge to go and relax her tired muscles. She could already feel the soreness dissipating. She closed her eyes and let the heat relieve the exhaustion from her body. She didn't know how long she had closed her eyes, but soon she found that she had dozed off for a moment. She was awakened by the sound of someone calling her name.

"Oh, Hinata?"

Confused, Hinata opened her eyes to see who had been calling her. She looked to see Sakura staring down at her.

"Sakura-san. Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, well, no. I just didn't know you would be here. Is it alright if I join you?" Sakura asked.

"Of course. Come on in." Hinata replied, smiling.

Sakura sat next to her, smiling at her, but looking a little uncomfortable. She wouldn't meet Hinata's gaze, knowing she might break down if she did. Were those eyes what made Naruto fall for her? Or her hair that flowed long and smooth and shined in the light? Or was it the curves she had developed over the years? Sakura knew she couldn't compete with that, and if that was what had lured him in, then she had no hope.

She mentally slapped herself. What was she thinking? She should be happy for Hinata and Naruto. She shouldn't be trying to compete for him, she should be trying to move on.

"...with Naruto-kun?"

"Huh?" Sakura blurted, realizing she hadn't been paying attention to what Hinata was saying.

"Oh, well, I was just wondering how thing are with you and Naruto-kun. You two have been having a rough couple of days, and it hurts to see two friends like that." Hinata replied.

"Oh, we haven't really had the chance to talk or anything. Except, well, last night..." Sakura answered, trailing off as the topic got more uncomfortable.

Hinata started blushing, remembering how Sakura walked in on her and Naruto in such a compromising position. It was now one of the most amazing and embarrassing moments of her life.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Sakura-san. It wasn't exactly one of my...finer moments. I mean, the moment was great, but the act was less than-"

"I-I get it, Hinata. Really." Sakura said, cutting Hinata off.

They both became silent after that, the air between them a bit uncomfortable. The thoughts Hinata was having earlier were pushing their way to the surface of her mind again. The more she thought about it, the more she thought it made sense. If Sakura had come to like Naruto in a romantic way, her behavior towards the two of them together and how she was acting alone with Hinata fit. The way she tried to change the subject when Hinata talked about being with Naruto like that also raised some suspicions. While Hinata didn't want to think about Sakura like that, she needed to clarify things for herself.

"S-Sakura-san?" she asked, trying to work up the courage to say what was on her mind.

Sakura looked up, not expecting Hinata to say anything else.

"Y-Yes, Hinata?" she replied, a little nervous about what Hinata was going to say.

Hinata paused, not exactly sure how to say what she was thinking. She didn't want to sound threatened or jealous. She just wanted to find out things to get a better picture of the situation. She decided to just come right out with it and hope for the best.

"Sakura-san, how do you feel about Naruto-kun?"

Sakura looked like she had been slapped in the face with a brick. She couldn't have just heard right. How was she supposed to answer that without hurting her feelings or possibly pissing her off? She had always known Hinata to be kind to everyone, but it was always the quiet, nice ones that tended to go psychotic and violent when angered enough. She was going to have to choose her words carefully.

"Well, he's always been a good friend and teammate for as long as we've been on Team 7 and-"

"No, that's not what I mean." Hinata interrupted. "Do you like Naruto-kun...in a romantic way?"

Sakura looked away from Hinata and stared down into the water, realizing there was no getting around this. She had to tell Hinata the truth. She sighed in defeat, wondering if the Hyuuga, the kindest woman she knew, could hate her.

"...Yes, I do." she replied, her voice barely higher than a whisper.

Hinata stayed silent, not knowing what to say. She didn't think she could ever come to hate Sakura, even when it came to Naruto. However, this may pose a problem if she didn't choose the right way to handle it. She placed her hand over the spot just below her collarbone, the spot Naruto had left on her. She closed her eyes and smiled. She had just barely got Naruto for herself after so many years, so there was no way she would let anything threaten what they had only just begun to explore.

"Sakura-san, I think-" Hinata began.

"Don't worry..." Sakura interrupted, her voice low, but loud enough that it made Hinata stop what she had been about to say to her.

"I'm sorry?" Hinata said, not understanding what Sakura was saying.

"You don't have to worry, Hinata...I'll get rid of it." Sakura said, not looking up from the water.

"Get rid of what?" Hinata asked, wondering what she was going on about.

"My feelings for Naruto. I don't plan on acting on them." she stated, her voice turning a bit monotonous.

"Sakura-san, you don't-"

"I'll get rid of them quickly...It's just a silly crush." she lied, interrupting Hinata one last time before grabbing her towel and leaving the bath.

She walked quickly, leaving Hinata staring back at her in confusion. There was no way she could have stayed there any longer without bursting into tears. She knew the last part was a lie, and Hinata probably knew it, too. But she couldn't bring herself to tell Hinata that she loved Naruto. She truly wanted them to be happy together, even if it made her sad. Now the only thing left to do was to talk to Kakashi and apologize to him.

Hinata sighed, not knowing where it all went so wrong. She hoped Sakura wasn't too upset. She wasn't mad at her for liking Naruto, after all, nobody can control who they fall for. She just hoped they could all remain friends after this. She grabbed her towel and stood, exiting the bathing area. She hoped Naruto was having a better time than she was.

XXXXXXX

Naruto stood in front of the motel they were staying at, feeling completely rejuvenated. His muscles no longer ached and his thoughts ran clearer. The only thing that was wrong was his stomach. It was growling almost nonstop. He hadn't had anything to eat for hours. Just when he was about to go look for somewhere to eat, Hinata came out of the motel.

"Hinata-hime!" he shouted, running up to her.

Hinata looked to see Naruto running towards her, a smile growing on his face. Seeing him looking so happy brought some joy to her after her encounter with Sakura.

"Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed.

He grabbed her around her waist and lifted her up into the air, earning a surprised squeal from her. He set her back down after a moment, a light blush on his face. He felt like he hadn't seen her in days.

"I am so glad to see you. Finally, we can be alone together." he said, grabbing her hand.

"We can?" she asked, blushing when he gripped her hand in his.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei said we can pretty much do whatever we want for the rest of the day, as long as we don't go too far away from the motel. You know, so he can find us if he needs to." Naruto explained.

"Oh, well that's good." Hinata replied.

They both paused when Naruto's stomach growled loudly. Naruto laughed in slight embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head with his hand while Hinata giggled a little at it.

"Hey, are you hungry, Hina-chan? I was thinking we could go out to lunch together." Naruto asked.

"You mean, like a date?" she asked.

"Eh? Yeah, I guess it is a date. Funny, it kind of feels weird being able to say that now. Not that it's weird being on a date with you. It's just that it's different. But in a good way." he answered, albeit a bit clumsily.

Hinata smiled, loving the thought of going on their first real date together. She wished they were back in Konoha, though, so she could have worn something better. But she decided it didn't matter what she was wearing, as long as she was with Naruto.

"Where should we go to eat?" she asked.

"Let's look around and see what looks good. Your choice, Hinata-hime." he replied with a big smile.

"Oh, thank you, Naruto-kun." she said, blushing.

"No problem, Hime." he replied, squeezing her hand a little tighter before leading her off to look for a place to eat.

There were so many different places to choose from, all looking delicious. Hinata didn't know what to choose. She wanted something she thought both her and Naruto could enjoy. Finally, her eyes stopped on a small ramen hut. While she wasn't as obsessed with it as Naruto was, she couldn't deny she liked having a bowl every once in a while. She started walking towards the hut, leading Naruto along with her. When he realized where he was being taken to, his eyes immediately lit up.

They sat and ordered their ramen, Naruto ordering chashu and Hinata ordering miso. The young lady who took their order smiled at them and went back to tell the chef what to cook up. While the action was lost on Naruto, Hinata could have sworn she saw the woman attempting to flirt, her gaze lingering a little too long on him and giving him a very sultry look. She couldn't have been more than about nineteen years old. She wasn't bad looking, Hinata thought. She chose to ignore what she had seen, but she would do something about it if the woman continued.

After a few minutes, the woman brought them their food, to which they thanked her. It was a pretty warm day, so Naruto took off his orange jacket, revealing a simple black shirt that showed off his toned arms. Hinata's arms nearly popped out of her head at the sight of it, as did the woman who served them and a few passing women in the streets. He didn't seem to notice however, and continued to his food.

Hinata continued to stare at him as he ate, loving how he looked completely content as he ate. He was soon on his second bowl, and she hadn't even started he first.

"Hina-chan? Hello?"

Hinata shook her head, realizing she hadn't been paying attention to Naruto's question.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" she asked, blushing in embarrassment.

"I asked if you are feeling alright. You've had black expression on your face and haven't touched your food." he explained.

"Oh, I'm okay, Naruto-kun. I was just lost in thought. Sorry for worrying you." she replied, grabbing some noodles with her chopsticks and taking a bite.

Naruto smiled at her and continued eating, but was interrupted shortly after by the woman who took their order.

"So...Can I get you anything else?" she asked, leaning over the counter.

The action showed a little too much cleavage, which Hinata knew was on purpose. She knew this woman was flirting and it was starting to really irritate her. She was being completely ignored, shoved to the side, while this woman sought out Naruto like he was her prey. Thankfully for her, Naruto was oblivious to her intentions, thinking she needed a better top as he averted his eyes.

"No thanks, but Hinata might. You need anything, Hina-chan?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Who?" the woman asked, not even noticing Hinata's presence, despite taking her order not twenty minutes ago.

"Oh, no, I'm fine. Thank you." she said, fighting to control her tone.

Hyuuga Hinata was not one to get easily angered. She was normally very calm, composed, and polite. But this woman was really pushing it.

"I've never seen you around here before. My name is Raku*. What's your name, handsome?" she asked, not letting up.

Naruto looked at her, a confused expression on his face. Perhaps he wasn't so oblivious after all. After a moment, he stood up, reaching into his pocket for some money to cover their meal.

"I'm Naruto." he replied, setting down the money and pushing his stool in. "Thank you for the meal."

Raku looked at him in disbelief, not comprehending that she had just been rejected by a sixteen year old. Before she could think of something to say to get him to stay, Naruto had already led Hinata down the road. She pouted, never once being rejected in her life.

After about a block, Naruto stopped, sighing.

"Man, what was with her? She was totally ignoring you! And it really sucks because that ramen was great!" he shouted.

Hinata nodded, not knowing what to say. She stared down at the ground, feeling a little downcast. This date wasn't going how she had planned.

"Are you alright, Hina-chan? We can get something else if you want. I just didn't like how she completely ignored you. That was just rude."

Hinata looked up and smiled, "It's fine, you don't have to. I'm alri-"

"Be honest with me. You can tell me anything. I want you to tell me when something is bothering you, Hime. As long as we are together, I will do my best to keep you happy every minute." he interrupted.

She paused, touched by his words. She didn't want to complain, especially on their date, but she decided to get what was bothering her off of her chest.

"Well, it's just that...I didn't like how she was talking to you. How she was acting. She was hitting on you while I was right there. I don't want anybody else to be able to do that..."

She hoped she hadn't come off as too possessive and clingy. The last thing she wanted was to scare Naruto off because she was jealous and controlling. But in her mind, she thought it was only right that Naruto stay hers and only hers, and that other women should stay away from him. If that made her selfish, that was the price she was willing to pay. She would do whatever she could to protect what was hers.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I shouldn't-"

Before she could finish, Naruto had grabbed her wrist and pulled her down a pathway between the two shops they were in front of. When they were far enough that he knew nobody could see, he stopped and leaned back against the wall, leaving Hinata to stare at him in confusion.

"Naruto-kun, why did you take me over here?" she asked, timidly.

Instead of answering her, he leaned in and kissed her softly, eliciting a surprised gasp from her. He pulled away for a moment, staring into her eyes. Then he suddenly kissed her again, this time more roughly, earning a moan from her. Hinata timidly kissed him back, though not nearly as rough. She didn't know why he was acting this way. Naruto then pulled away again, staring back at her, but not showing any signs of answering her question yet. She thought about asking him again, but before she could even open her mouth, his hand reached up and he started unzipping her jacket.

"N-Naruto-kun, w-w-what are you doing!? N-Not here!" she pleaded, blushing bright red.

Naruto stopped unzipping her jacket midway down, reaching up to the collar of her plain white shirt. He pulled it down, stretching it enough to reveal the small mark he had left on her last night. He pressed his index finger to it, looking Hinata straight in the eyes.

"Hime, do you know why I left this on you last night? It's a mark, a claim. It says you are mine, that nobody else can touch you like I can. In time, the mark will fade, but the meaning in it will never go away. Do you understand what I am getting at?"

She slowly shook her head, not seeing what it had to do with her question. He smiled, then leaned in until his lips were brushing her ear.

"Mark me, Hime. Claim me as yours. If you don't want women to act like that to me, you have to place your claim." he murmured into her ear, his lips brushing over the lobe.

Hinata was speechless. She had to do that? She was raised to be a proper lady, and while she wanted to keep Naruto for herself and only herself, she wasn't sure she could act on this. It felt so dirty. Leaving a swollen bruise to show her love. It just didn't seem very romantic.

Then she remembered what she had told herself earlier. She would do anything to protect him and be with him. She would just have to get out of her comfort zone to do it. That, however, was a price she was more than willing to pay for the man she loved. She swallowed nervously, but proceeded.

"W-Where do you want it?" she asked him, looking at the ground shyly.

He grinned, pointing to the base of the right side of his neck.

"Right here. That way people will see it and know I'm off limits." he said.

Hinata slowly leaned forward, gripping each of Naruto's shoulders. She had a faint blush across her cheeks, but she didn't stop. Naruto craned his head up so she had better access to his neck. Slowly, she moved towards his neck, parting her lips in preparation for what she was about to do. She stopped right before her lips touched his skin, pausing before slowly sliding her tongue out and grazing it against the sensitive skin at the base of his neck.

He gasped, not expecting the sensations that coursed through him at the simple touch of her tongue to his skin. He wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, willing her to continue. He was rewarded with her pressing her soft lips to his neck, lightly sucking on the spot at the base. He held back a low moan, pleasure coursing through his body.

"H-Hime...You need to do it harder. Bite it, too."

She didn't stop for a second, doing exactly what he instructed her to do. Before she realized it, she had sunk her teeth into his neck, sucking on the spot on his neck without holding back. It was almost as if she were being controlled by someone else, someone braver. But she knew she hadn't. She was doing this of her own free will, all for Naruto.

After what seemed like forever, she finally released his neck, catching her breath. They were both breathing hard, partly from pleasure, partly from exhaustion (and in Naruto's case, slight pain), and partly from the bond they were sharing. What Hinata had at first thought to be a lewd and inappropriate thing to do turned out to be one of the most special and romantic moments of her life.

She pulled away from him a bit, looking to see the mark she had left. Her jaw nearly dropped. It looked like it was ready to bleed! Had she really been so could up that she bit that hard? She hoped it didn't hurt him too much.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun! I didn't mean to bite you so hard!" she told him, feeling guilty about letting herself go like that.

"Don't apologize, Hinata-hime. It's not that bad. And besides, the thought behind it makes it even more special to me." he told her, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

She felt so safe, so loved, so confident. In a matter of days, Naruto had helped her transform from a shy girl into a confident woman. She almost never stuttered, she was more bold, and she spoke her mind more freely. Which is why she didn't need to try as hard to say what she said next.

"Naruto-kun...I..."

She paused a moment, wondering if it was too soon to say. She had thought to say it last night, but decided against it in the heat of the moment. But after such an experience that they had now both shared, she felt she should say it to him after all. She was confident in herself. She was confident that he wouldn't turn her away

"Yes, Hime?" he asked.

"I...I love you, Uzumaki Naruto. I always have."

She said it. She finally said what had been going through her mind and tugging at her heart for so many years. She couldn't wait to hear him say it back. But then, after a moment, and then another, and then yet another, he still hadn't replied. She felt him stiffen in her arms, and feared her worst thoughts had come true. He wasn't going to say it back. He didn't love her like she did him.

He began to pull away, and she let him. Tears started welling up in her eyes and she fought to keep them from overflowing and running down her cheeks. She should have known he wouldn't be able to feel that way after only a few days. She started to turn around and run out of the narrow pathway they were in, when suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, keeping her there.

Why? Why keep her there to feel even more humiliation? Couldn't he see that it already hurt her to realize she had been wrong? Why make her endure it even more?

"You're running off before I can even answer, Hime." he said.

She looked up at him, her eyes full of tears threatening to escape. He looked at her and felt a pain in his heart. He hadn't meant to send the wrong message to her, making her feel so rejected. He had simply been surprised by her sudden proclamation. He had known that she felt something for him, but he never expected it to be so immense. He never expected her to feel so strongly for someone like him. The way he felt about her.

He gently pulled her towards him, and to his relief, she did not fight it. He stopped when she was standing a foot in front of him, reaching out to touch her cheek. She stood there, not knowing whether to try and leave again or not. He then pulled her other hand up to touch the spot she had left on him only moments ago.

"You caught me by surprise, that's all, Hime." Naruto explained. "You think I would tell you to do this to me, to make me yours, if I didn't feel that way about you? If anything, I thought it would be me who would get rejected. I know I don't deserve someone as wonderful as you, but damn it, I have you know, and I'm not letting you go. Ever."

Hinata looked back at him, her eyes wide. She wasn't sure she was hearing right.

"Naruto-kun..."

"Say it again." he told her.

"What? I don't know what you mean." she replied.

"Tell me how you feel about me. Again." Naruto requested.

"I...I love you...Uzumaki Naruto." Hinata told him, tears escaping her eyes.

He smiled. "I love you, too, Hyuuga Hinata." he told her, closing the space between them with a kiss.

XXXXXXX

Sakura closed the door to the room she was sharing with Hinata. Locking it, she turned around to see Kakashi walking up to the door of the room he and Naruto were sharing a few doors down. She froze, meeting his one eyed gaze. She could tell he didn't want to be there right now, but she needed to talk to him about what had happened between them the night before. She started walking towards him, and to her surprise and relief, he didn't move.

"Sensei..." she said, stopping in front of him.

"Sakura." he replied, looking uncomfortable. "I should be-"

"I'm sorry." she said, completely cutting him off. She wasn't about to let him run away when she just got the guts to confront him.

"You are?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. I was not thinking straight and acted very inappropriately with you. For that, I apologize to you, Kakashi-sensei. It will not happen again. I hope this will not affect our friendship."

She waiting in silence for his reply, hoping she hadn't screwed up beyond repair.

"Well, Sakura," Kakashi started, "It wasn't so bad, I guess. I mean, you shouldn't be taking all of the blame, you weren't entirely at fault after all..."

He rubbed the back of his head, his gaze stuck on the ground. He looked the very definition of awkward. She found it kind of funny, really, although she would never tell him that. At least not now. He looked up at her, meeting her gaze. She blushed, caught off guard, wondering for a split second if he somehow read her thoughts.

"Look, Sakura, you don't have to worry about our friendship being hurt over this. What happened is in the past. We can get past it." he told her.

She smiled, glad he was being so nice and understanding about this. This was the one good thing she had going for her right now.

"I'm glad, Kakashi-sensei." she replied warmly.

"Well, now that that's all settled, I was goig read in my room, but since you're here and everything is patched up between us, would you-"

Sakura yawned loudly, interrupting Kakashi's question. When she realized she had interrupted him, she blushed and got ready to apologize.

"Sorry, I didn't realize I was boring you so much." he joked, although Sakura didn't take it jokingly.

"No, it's not that, I swear! I just got up from my nap after going to the onsen. What time is it?" she asked.

"Almost five in the afternoon. You slept a while." Kakashi stated.

"Wow, that long, huh? Well it was needed. I ran into Hinata in the onsen..." she said, remembering her awkward encounter with the Hyuuga.

"Not a good encounter, I take it? What happened?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura paused, not knowing if it was a good idea to go into all of this again. She didn't want a repeat of last night, or something similar. But she decided to press her luck. She needed to talk to someone about this, and Kakashi was the only one she could talk to who wasn't directly involved in the predicament.

"She...She knows..."

"Knows what?" Kakashi asked.

"She knows...how I feel about him. I lied and said it was just a crush, that I'd get over it quickly, but I think she knows that's a lie." Sakura explained.

"Oh, I see. Was she very upset?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Probably, but I didn't stay long enough to find out." she answered.

"Well, as long as you're careful, I think you'll be fine. Hinata doesn't look like the type to hold a grudge against you for something like that." he told her, trying to sound comforting. He was rewarded with a smile from the pink-haired kunoichi, which elicited a strange, warm feeling in his chest. He ignored it and continued what he had wanted to say.

"Now, as I was trying to say before all of that, I was going to read in my room, but since you're here, want to go grab something to eat? I'd imagine you'd be hungry after walking so long and then going straight to sleep."

As if on cue, her stomach growled loudly, making her turn bright red in embarrassment. Kakashi chuckled, finding her embarrassment to be quite entertaining.

"Well, I guess there's no denying that I'm starving. I assume you're paying? You did offer." she joked at him, reminding him of all of the times he skipped out on the three of them when they were all genin, sticking them with the bill.

"But of course, Sakura. You really think I'd do such a thing as make someone pay? I'm hurt." he said, feigning being insulted.

"Come on, Sensei, let's go!" she laughed, leading the way out of the motel.

He followed, smiling. What little tension had remained in him had left him, and he felt glad that things were beginning to fit back into place.

XXXXXXX

Naruto and Hinata came back to the motel from their date, hand in hand. After the moment they had shared in the pathway between the shops, they had spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company as they had explored the village. They ended up buying some dango from a stand, sharing that together. After a while, they found a nice secluded area at the edge of the town to relax together. They relaxed on a small hill, lying down together and thinking about how their lives would be back in Konoha.

Hinata was a bit worried what he father would say when he found out they were together, but Naruto assured her they could handle it, which calmed her. As long as she was with him, she had nothing to worry about. When it started getting dark, they slowly made their way down to the motel.

It was around eight at night, and nearly time for them to go to sleep so they could be up early to head out for the Lightning Country. Naruto walked Hinata to her room, getting ready to say goodnight. Suddenly, a question came into his mind. He remembered something about the Hyuugas and the Lightning Country. Specifically, Hinata.

"Hina-chan, didn't something happen when you were little that involved the Lightning Country?" he asked.

His question caught her off guard, coming from seemingly nowhere.

"Oh, yes...Shinobi from Kumogakure came to Konoha...to kidnap me." she answered, bits and pieces from her early childhood returning to her. She didn't remember much, but she knew the story, as she had heard it so many times in her family.

"What!? Why did they do that?" he asked, wishing he had paid more attention when the story was first told to him.

"They wanted to learn the secrets of the Byakugan that my family possesses, and I suppose I was an easy target. My father ended up killing the kidnapper, but there was no proof that it was in self-defense other than his word and mine. So they demanded his head. His twin brother took the fall because they were identical, and the seal he had from being a Branch member would lock away any information about the Byakugan, disappearing when he died."

"That's horrible!" he replied.

"It was, yes. But it prevented a war from breaking out." she stated.

"But we're going there tomorrow. You don't think they'd try anything, do you?" Naruto wondered out loud.

"I've thought about that, and I honestly don't know. They very well might. Kumogakure and Konohagakure aren't on very good terms yet." she replied.

Naruto noticed the sadness and worry in her voice as she said this. He quickly wrapped his arms around her, catching her a bit by surprise.

"Don't worry, Hime. You're very strong, and you have me here with you, along with Kakashi and Sakura. We won't let anything happen, to you." he assured her.

Hinata felt better when Naruto said this than anybody else. It was more believable. She returned his embrace, loving the feeling and scent of him. He always knew how to make her feel better, and it seemed as though he didn't even need to try.

Naruto pulled away looking down at her and smiling. Today had been a great day, and it had all been because of Hinata. It bugged him that he had to leave her here, but at least he would see her tomorrow. He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips, to which she replied by deepening it. It would have been surprising to him that she would do that, but she had surprised him so much today that he wasn't sure she could do that anymore After a moment, they parted the kiss. Naruto then kissed her forehead before letting her go. As he turned to walk away, he looked back at her.

"I love you, Hinata-hime." he told her.

Hinata blushed. "I love you, too, Naruto-kun. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." he called back, walking into his room and shutting the door.

Hinata then entered her own room that she was sharing with Sakura to find the kunoichi already appearing to be asleep, as did Naruto with Kakashi. They silently made their way to their beds, changing into their sleepwear along the way, and tucked themselves in. Soon, both were sound asleep, both with smiles plastered onto their faces from the wonderful events that had transpired that day.


	7. An Explosive Reunion

**I'm back with a new chapter! I know, another long wait, but it was worth it. I spent my Spring Break doing this, so be happy, because I could have been out doing tons of other things. But I kept thinking, "Nope, I owe it to them to finish this chapter before school starts!". So I did just that. It took me all night to finish it, but I like how it turned out! And hey, I realized this story was lacking action, even though it's about ninjas. So yay, I added fight scenes! (Sort of). There's not a ton of romance, but there is a couple moments, and some cutesy scenes, so hopefully you won't be too disappointed! I hope you guys like this, so I'll stop talking now. As always, please review and tell me what you think! It really helps! Bye =D**

**XXXXXXX**

The four shinobi were finally arriving near the border of the Lighting Country. They had checked out of the motel before the sun had even risen, wanting to make it into the country before the end of the day. It was nearing two in the afternoon, and they were all exhausted from constant running and walking with few breaks. However, while they were all physically exhausted, it wasn't nearly as mentally exhausting as the previous day's journey.

Having worked things out with Kakashi, Sakura felt a bit more energized. The two had been walking together and talking every once in a while, exchanging bits of laughter here and there. She felt like things were just about back to normal with him, although there was something a bit off about it. Something was different, but she couldn't quite place it. She chose to ignore it, glad to have things as close to normal as they could get between her and her sensei. As for Hinata, however, Sakura was doing her best to avoid her as much as possible.

She was pretty sure Hinata wouldn't want her anywhere near Naruto or herself after what she had said to her the day before. That was just fine with her, as she didn't want to cause any more tension than there already was between them. Although, she did miss being able to talk freely with Naruto, but she didn't trust herself to be alone with him, and there was no way to talk to him with Hinata around. So, she had now lost contact with her best friend and his new girlfriend. Wonderful.

Meanwhile, Hinata was walking with Naruto, trying to keep her mind off of Sakura. She would catch the pink-haired kunoichi glance at her out of the corner of her eyes every once in a while, and then quickly look away. She needed to talk to Sakura the first chance she got, but it was difficult when she seemed to be making every possible move to avoid her. She had clearly misinterpreted Hinata's reaction yesterday.

While she wasn't exactly thrilled that Sakura decided to fall for Naruto right when he finally became hers, she was in no way upset about it. She knew she couldn't control it, and she wouldn't hold it against her. Besides, she trusted both Naruto and Sakura, and knew that neither would try to betray that trust. One way or another, she had to find a way to set things right. Although, she was a bit distracted.

Confessing to Naruto the day before had been the scariest and most wonderful moment of her existence, and ever since then, there hadn't been a single moment where she wasn't smiling because of it. After so many years, her reality was even better than her dreams. She could hardly believe the blonde, who had never noticed her before recently, really loved her the way she loved him.

Naruto was just as thrilled, if not more. He had never had a family. He never had parents or siblings or cousins to love him. But because of Hinata, the void in him that was left because of that was finally filled. He actually felt complete because of her, and it was the best feeling in the world. While it developed much faster than he thought normal, at least before, he was confident that he really, truly loved the Hyuuga heiress. No matter what, all he wanted was to protect her and make sure she was happy.

While they all walked, Naruto couldn't help but keep his eyes off of her. She was worth fighting for a million times over, to him. As he thought this, a sudden memory came back to him from their date. That fight may come sooner than at first thought, considering that when they came back to Konoha, he'd have to face the wrath of her father, who surely would oppose their relationship. While he had assured her it would all be fine, to say he was nervous was an understatement. The reality of the situation was that he was completely terrified. But he kept it to himself so as not to worry her. It would work out. Somehow.

At the front of the group, Kakashi walked with a bit of a spring to his step, unusual for the laid-back shinobi, especially with how much they had been moving the past several hours. Things were seeming to be falling back into place in the group, and this was contributing to his mood. Now that everything was running smoother, things would start to be easier for all of them. And now that Sakura was seeming to work out some of her problems with everyone, including him, the weight of avoiding her had also been lifted. Never before had he been delighted to simply walk and talk to her. Deep down, he began to wonder if there was more to it than just that, but he easily brushed the thought aside, glad to just have things back to normal for the most part.

He spotted a clearing up ahead and decided they should stop and take a break there for an hour or so, much to everyone's delight. Sakura even decided to run the rest of the way to it, surprising him. If anyone would do that, he would have thought it would have been Naruto, but the blonde was too preoccupied with Hinata to make the effort to do so. He chuckled to himself at how things had changed since he had returned to Konoha.

They all gathered in the clearing and set their bags down, sitting down in the grassy area. Kakashi pulled out a few protein bars and passed them to everyone, each eagerly ripping them open due to not eating all day. As they all ate, Naruto looked up and spotted a small lake a few yards away.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei? How long are we resting here?" he asked.

"We'll be here about an hour or so. Why?" the jounin replied.

"I wanted to ask if we could go over to that lake up there." Naruto replied, pointing towards the water.

Kakashi looked over at the lake Naruto was pointing at and contemplated it for a moment. Finally, he turned to answer him.

"Alright, you guys can go if you want. But stay on guard. We're nearing the border that leads into Lighting territory, so be careful in case of an attack. You never know what will happen." he warned.

"Alright! Thanks, sensei!" Naruto replied.

Naruto then took Hinata's hand and helped her stand up, leading her with him towards the lake. Sakura, who had been about to stand up to go to the lake, stopped when she saw them walking towards it together.

"You're not going, sensei?" she asked Kakashi.

"No, I thought I'd relax over here and read for a while." he told her, taking his book out.

"Pervert." she muttered.

Kakashi chuckled at the remark.

"Maybe." he replied to her. "You're free to go over there, Sakura-chan."

"I'm good over here." she replied, lying back on the grass.

"You're lying." Kakashi said. "I saw you about to get up. You only stopped when Naruto brought Hinata over there."

"Am I that easy to read?" she asked, keeping her gaze on the sky.

"No, not really. I'm just good at reading people." he replied, flipping pages to find where he left off in his book.

"Well, after everything with Hinata yesterday, I highly doubt she wants me around. And she probably told Naruto, too. So I'm better off staying away, I guess." she said.

"Do you really think she would do that, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked. "She doesn't seem the type to betray your feelings and trust like that."

Sakura sat up and looked at him, not completely sure if he was serious.

"Who knows? People do surprising things when it comes to love. I would know." she told him.

She remembered the night Sasuke left and how she had offered to betray her own village, family, and friends just to stay with him. She regretted it now, of course, but back then she had been willing to give up anything for him, whether he returned the feelings or not. It had been stupid and irresponsible, but it had been for love. If she could do that, she wouldn't be surprised if Hinata did something to protect her love for Naruto, even if it ended up hurting Sakura.

"Sakura, if Naruto knew what you told her, he would have brought it up at some point. He hasn't, which means your secret is safe, even if it's only a secret to him. I wouldn't worry about it so much." he said casually.

"Not worry? How am I not supposed to worry?" she asked, nearly laughing in disbelief.

"Because if you worry about it too much, and make a bigger deal about it than it really is, it will only cause more problems. For everyone, not just you." Kakashi replied, finally looking up from his book.

Sakura stopped, really thinking about what he was saying. Maybe she was overthinking this. Hinata was truly one of the nicest people she had ever met, and she had never heard of her doing anything to hurt someone. Perhaps she was just jumping to conclusions. However, she probably wasn't exactly be ecstatic about Sakura's newfound feelings.

"You're right." Sakura said.

"Well, now, did Sakura just admit that I'm right about something? Never thought I'd see the day." he said sarcastically.

"Shut up." she said, smirking.

"Oh, but if I did that, who would you go to with your problems?" he shot back, smiling.

"Good point." she replied. "But what should I do about all of this?"

"I know it's not what you want to hear, but you need to give it time. Let things settle down for a bit. It will all be better if you give it some time." he assured her.

Sakura slouched a bit at that. She didn't want to wait. She wanted everything to be fixed and back to normal _now_. But she supposed that Kakashi had been right about things so far, what harm could putting a bit more faith in him do?

"All right," she finally said. "I'll give it a shot. It'll be difficult, though. Especially with the mission."

"You're definitely right about that. But that's where it's most critical. We can't let emotions get in the way of this. It could mean the difference between failure and success; the difference between life and death. That's why-"

"You know, you're a lot more fun when you're not going on about the importance of a mission. I think we all understand how important this is, Sensei." she interrupted.

"Hey, I'm supposed to bore you with details like that. Now that you're not a genin, it's my job to do what I can to make you remember what it was like to have me constantly breathing down your necks and barking orders. Good times, no?" he replied in a sarcastic tone.

Sakura shuddered visibly at the thought. This did not go unnoticed by Kakashi, to which he laughed at. Sakura had only heard him really laugh once or twice, so this surprised her. She supposed it meant he was really comfortable with her, to which she was glad. She thought he actually had a rather nice laugh, though she would never voice this to him. There was no need to make things awkward between them again.

"Well, since you reading your porn is now a lost cause thanks to me, let's go." she said, standing up from the ground, brushing dirt off of her shorts.

"Go?" Kakashi asked, setting his book down. "What do you mean?"

"The lake. I want to go and there is no way I'm going to be alone with the very two people who cause me pain right now. Oh, and you can't use the book as an excuse." she answered, smiling just a little too sweetly for him to think she wasn't enjoying this.

"But...It's at the best part..." he replied weakly.

"You've read it before. Let's go." she insisted.

When he didn't get up, she acted before thinking and grabbed his wrist, pulling him along with her. She realized what she was doing after a few seconds, but didn't stop. She knew if he was completely unwilling to go, he could stop her easily. He was enjoying this just as much as she was, whether he admitted it or not. She wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or not, but she was not going to question it right now. She tightened her grip on his wrist, leading the way towards the lake where Naruto and Hinata were.

"Hey, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes?" she replied.

"It's not porn. It has an intricate plot and complex character development." he stated.

She laughed at his statement. "Kakashi, you can phrase it however you want. It's still porn."

Kakashi smiled, thoroughly enjoying their exchange of conversation as they approached the lake where Naruto and Hinata were. Things were definitely looking up. Now if only he hadn't left his book at the clearing, things would be absolutely perfect.

**XXXXXXX**

Naruto led Hinata towards the small lake, grasping her smaller hand into his. They felt soft and delicate in his own tougher hands, but he new they were very deadly when used in battle. He was not under the impression that she was weak or fragile like others thought, for he had seen what she could do in a fight. She was a strong and beautiful kunoichi whom he knew deserved the utmost respect, but rarely got it. He meant to fill that gap in her life, to love and respect her for as long as he lived.

He looked back at her, watching her as they walked towards the lake. She had a beautiful smile plastered across her face, which he had been seeing more and more on her lately, and he couldn't help but feel proud at the fact that it was probably because of him. She met his gaze, making him blush at being caught staring. He suddenly stopped walking, making Hinata stop and look at him curiously.

"Naruto-kun, what-" she managed to get out before suddenly being interrupted by Naruto lifting her up into his arms, carrying her bridal style towards the lake.

"W-What are you-" she stumbled.

"Relax, Hime. Let's just enjoy our break together." he interrupted, leaning in to kiss her softly on her lips.

Hinata could have melted into his arms from the kiss. Until the past few days, she had never known he could be so romantic. He began to pull away, but she reached up and pulled his head down to hers again, crushing her lips into his for a much deeper and less chaste kiss. He gladly complied, kissing her back just as forcefully. After a moment, they finally broke the kiss as their lungs began to demand air.

Naruto kept walking towards the lake, holding Hinata tightly in his strong arms. She wrapped her arms around his chest, relaxing into him as she closed her eyes. Naruto smiled down at her, stopping at the edge of the water. He then began to focus chakra into his feet as he slowly took a step forward onto the surface of the lake. He was very careful about keeping his focus so he wouldn't fall through the surface and get the two of them drenched. Hinata then opened her eyes to find them standing in the middle of the lake. Before she could say anything, Naruto suddenly spoke up.

"Hina-chan?" he asked.

"Yes, Naruto-kun?" she replied softly.

He paused for a moment, the sweet tone in her voice throwing him off for a moment. He was completely distracted and forgot all about focusing his chakra, however they were still standing on the surface. This kind of surprised him, as he'd never had good control over all of his chakra, but he made the most of it and continued with his question.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her.

She stopped, not knowing if he was being serious. She thought that would be pretty obvious by now, but continued with answering him.

"Of course I trust you." she replied.

"Really?" Naruto questioned.

"Yes. Naruto-kun, what's this-"

"Alright," Naruto interrupted. "Then you won't mind when I do something so suddenly."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Naruto smirked down at her, making her wonder what exactly he was up to.

"One." he said.

"One?" Hinata echoed, questioningly.

"Two." he continued.

"Naruto-kun, what are you counting fo-"

"Three!" he shouted, too loud to hear her finish.

He suddenly gripped her tightly began spinning around, getting faster and faster as he kept going. Hinata let out a surprised squeal, not expecting anything like this. She gripped tightly onto him, wondering what exactly had got into him.

"N-Naruto-kun, what are you doing!?" she shouted.

"Just having a bit of fun. You trust me, right? Then don't let go." he told her, speeding up a bit.

He didn't have to worry about that. There was no way she was letting go while he was doing that. However, if she had to go through this, she would make it interesting. With one hand, she slowly began poking at different points on his chest, stomach, and his underarms.

"H-Hey, Hina-chan, what are you doing?" he asked as she poked into his stomach.

"Just checking for something." she replied.

"Checking for wha-Hey, not there!" he said as she poked into a spot on the side of his stomach.

"Got you!" she exclaimed, giggling.

She began poking and tickling the spot, making him stumble for a moment and stop spinning. But she didn't stop even when he stopped moving. She now was using both hands, jabbing her fingers into his sides and ribs, to which Naruto was now laughing uncontrollably at.

"Alright, I give up!" he shouted, trying to stop laughing and make her stop tickling him.

She finally eased her efforts, much to his relief.

"Hina-chan, was that really necessary?" he asked, trying to catch his breath.

She nodded, giggling a little.

"Well, now that that's done with, let's get out of the water before one of us falls in and catches a cold, or something." he said as he slowly released her and set her down on the water's surface.

Grabbing her hand in his once again, they walked to the edge of the lake to sit on the sandy shore. Hinata sat with her knees huddled against her chest, hugging them tightly. While she had become more inwardly confident, she still had a few unconscious nervous habits that she occasionally exhibited, and this was one of them that Naruto had taken notice to.

Little did he know, she was doing this out of worry, rather than being nervous. She was worried for Sakura, who had been in a bad state lately, and Hinata felt responsible for causing it. But she was also conflicted, because now that she knew of Sakura's feelings for Naruto, she had to be cautious of her. She trusted Sakura, but Hinata knew better than to believe that it was just a little crush. Sakura was definitely in love with Naruto, and Hinata would be keeping an eye on her.

She was suddenly surprised when Naruto leaned in and kissed her, causing her to start to fall back a bit and release her arms from around her knees to catch herself. When he stopped kissing her, she looked up at him, noting the concern in his eyes. Had she been that obvious?

"Hina-chan, you can relax with me." Naruto stated. "There is nothing to be nervous about. I know you seem to be over it, but I notice things. You still act shy sometimes. It's cute, but I want you to know that you don't have anything to be nervous or shy about, because I'll protect you. Not that's you're weak or anything, because you're not. I just won't let anything bad happen to you."

Hinata was taken aback. Naruto had noticed how worried she had been lately, even if he was a little off. She considered confiding in Naruto, but thought against it. On one hand, if she told him what was going on, she'd have to tell him that Sakura had feelings for him. While she had been there to witness when Naruto told Sakura he was done chasing her, she knew better than to think that he didn't feel anything at all. Feelings like that don't just disappear. But she wouldn't make a big deal of it, because she trusted Naruto. She also trusted Sakura, which was why she wouldn't betray Sakura's trust and tell Naruto of her confession. She didn't like hiding things from him, she felt bad for it, but there was no need in telling him something that would only cause problems for everyone.

"Well...I'm not actually nervous about anything. I'm just worried about something." she told him.

Naruto tilted his head to the side a bit, curious.

"What are you worried about? Can I help?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"Well, actually, I'm worried about Sakura-san." she answered slowly.

It wasn't a lie, at least. She truly was worried about Sakura, but she doubted the pink-haired kunoichi would listed to her at this point. She had run out of the baths before she could tell her that she didn't resent her for loving Naruto. Ever since then, she had been avoiding Hinata, so she decided to give Sakura her space.

"Yeah, I've been worried about her, too, ever since the other night at the motel when she walked in on us." Naruto said as he sighed, scratching the back of his head.

Hinata nodded and he continued.

"She seemed different." he said. "I couldn't quite place it, but she just didn't seem herself. I expected her to yell or something, but the way she acted was strange to me."

"I agree." Hinata added.

"Do you think we should talk to her? Maybe find out what's going on?" he asked.

"N-No!" she blurted.

Naruto looked at her strangely, curious at her behavior.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Well, I just mean that we shouldn't approach her so suddenly about it. We should give her some space, don't you think?" Hinata replied, choosing her words carefully so she didn't lie or raise suspicion.

Naruto paused for a minute, thinking about what Hinata had decided. Maybe she was right, and Sakura just needed some space right now. After a moment, he smiled at Hinata, taking her answer and leaving it at that.

"You're right, Hina-chan. We'll give her some space for now." he agreed.

Hinata smiled back at him, glad he had decided to let the conversation end there. She didn't know what she would have done if it had gone on much longer. She wouldn't keep this from him forever, but there was a time and a place for things like this to be said, and it certainly wasn't on a mission right after they had officially become a couple. Naruto suddenly leaned in close, catching Hinata off guard, having been lost in thought.

"You always know the right thing to do, Hime. You're amazing." he whispered to her, mere inches away from her face.

Hinata blushed at his compliment, not knowing what to say. Before she could think of anything, he crushed his lips into hers, pushing her back until she was lying all the way back in the sand, with his larger frame positioned above her smaller one. The moment quickly became very heated, both giving in to their desires, forgetting their surroundings.

Hinata reached her arms up around the upper part of Naruto's torso, pulling him down onto her. Naruto soon prodded his tongue at her lower lip, seeking entrance, to which she granted. As he explored her mouth with his tongue, he felt around on her toned stomach, and finally, his hand glided up to the zipper on her jacket, pulling it down about half-way.

She knew she should be stopping him now, but she didn't want to. She wanted nothing more than to let him continue and eventually take her completely, whether they promised to wait or not. As his hand slowly reached inside her jacket to feel her breasts, what little sense she had to stop this encounter was withering away rapidly. She knew she wasn't in any control of her senses anymore. She couldn't stop this from happening. She gave in to the wonderful feelings his touch gave her, no willpower left in her to fight it.

However, a sudden clearing of someone's throat caused them both to pause and realize they were not alone anymore. They both looked up in shock and mortification to see Kakashi standing a few feet away from them, staring straight at them.

"This isn't going to be a regular occurrance, is it? If so, I can always tell Tsunade that it's a distraction and make it so you two aren't put on missions together." he told them simply.

They both jumped back in surprise, embarrassed to be caught in such a situation. Hinata hurriedly zipped her jacket back up, blushing bright red. She hadn't wished for such an embarrassing way to halt their actions, but it had done the job. Now they could keep their promise to each other.

"Hey, how long have you been standing there!?" Naruto exclaimed, sporting his own blush.

"Long enough." Kakashi replied.

"Pervert!" he shouted.

"That's not the first time I've been called that today." he said.

"That's because it's true!" Naruto shot back.

"Well, now that I have your attention, we'll be leaving again in about thirty minutes. I suggest you make the most of it and enjoy the break a bit longer. Although, not as enthusiastically as you were." he told both Naruto and Hinata, ignoring Naruto's last comment.

"Fine, fine." Naruto replied, while Hinata simply nodded, not daring to make eye contact.

"Glad you understand. Now come on, join us. You shouldn't stay separated from everyone so much." Kakashi encouraged, waving them over as he walked away towards Sakura, who was crouched on the ground at the edge of the water in the background.

Naruto and Hinata slowly stood up from the ground, dusting themselves off. They stood there for a moment in silence, contemplating what had just occurred. Naruto turned to Hinata, placing a hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to reality for a moment.

"Um, sorry about all of that, Hina-chan." he said, giving her a nervous smile.

"Sorry for what?" she asked, confused.

"Well, for starting all of that, and pressuring you to-"

"Y-You didn't pressure me, Naruto-kun." she said, starting to blush again. "I...I wanted you to keep going..."

Naruto looked at her, surprised. He had thought for sure that he had went over the line, but to think she had wanted to just as badly as him took him by surprise.

"Really?" he asked her.

Hinata nodded, looking away in embarrassment. She couldn't believe she just admitted that. Naruto squeezed her shoulder lightly, causing her to look at him again. He gave her an assuring smile before pulling her into an embrace, taking her by surprise.

"Well, I'm kind of glad we were stopped." Naruto told her, his voiced slightly muffled with his face in her shoulder. "We promised to wait until we got back to Konoha. Let's not ruin that."

"Right." Hinata agreed, wrapping her arms around him.

They remained there for a moment, not saying anything more, just enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms. Finally, they pulled away to walk to where Kakashi and Sakura were. Before doing so, Naruto held both of Hinata's hands in his, leaning in to kiss her. He stopped just short of her lips, she could feel his warm breath on her as he spoke.

"I love you, Hime." he whispered against her lips.

"I love you, too, Naruto-kun." she whispered back, before he kissed her lightly on the lips.

Slowly, he pulled away from her lips, though she tried to keep him from doing it. He chuckled at that, reminding her that they would have plenty of time for that when they returned home. Taking her hand in his, he started walking towards Kakashi and Sakura, leading her there with him.

**XXXXXXX**

It had been about an hour since the team had left the lake on their way towards the suspected hideout. They had long since made their way into the Lightning Country, and were being more cautious than ever, keeping their eyes out for any passing shinobi who may see the need to attack. They were about two miles outside of Kumogakure, not far from where the hideout was supposed to be.

Everybody was anxious to get there, this being the closest they had been to finding Sasuke in three years. There had been so many dead ends and false information in the time since Sasuke left, everybody was hoping that this was the real thing. They were walking through the forest, when Kakashi suddenly stopped at the head of the group. They all stopped behind him, wondering why they weren't continuing towards the hideout.

"Kakashi-sensei, why did you-"

Naruto was suddenly cut off by Kakashi lunging at him and covering his mouth, silencing him.

"Everybody, get back behind those bushes over there." Kakashi whispered, gesturing towards the bushes to their right.

Everybody obeyed, quickly running behind them and crouching low to the ground. Kakashi raised his head just above the shrubs so he could see over. And that's when he saw it. A figure in a brown hooded cloak was hopping from tree to tree through the forest at high speeds, no doubt a shinobi. When he was a good enough distance away that they could move without being detected, Kakashi ordered everyone to move, following the cloaked person.

They dashed through the trees, making sure to stay a good distance behind the figure ahead of them. After about a mile, the figure jumped down in front of a giant dome-shaped rock structure. They all stopped, watching from the trees as the person in the cloak walked towards the wall of the structure facing them. He pressed his palm to a spot on the wall, and after a moment, a circle began to glow a bright, pale green around his hand. There was a low rumbling, and to his right a giant rock about three times the size of the figure began to shift. When it stopped moving, there was a staircase that went into the ground beneath where the rock had been. The cloaked person removed his hand from the wall and began to walk towards the underground staircase.

"This is definitely the right place, which means that is one of Orochimaru's subordinates." Kakashi explained quietly. "That was a seal that they just temporarily removed, most likely made to only react to their chakra. This is probably our only chance to make an entry that won't give us away immediately. We have to get down those stairs before they do, meaning we have to knock that person out quickly. I doubt they are just going to let us walk right in."

They nodded, understanding the situation. They all jumped down from the trees, charging towards the hooded figure. Kakashi made it to them just as they turned to face him, but landed a blow to the head, rendering the person unconscious. As they fell to the ground, the hood hiding their face fell, revealing the person's identity.

"Kabuto." Kakashi stated, not surprised to find him still under Orochimaru's control.

He lifted Kabuto's body off the ground, carrying him over behind some large rocks to hide his body for the time being, in case anybody else came by.

"Now," Kakashi started, "Before we just rush in there blindly, let's get a better idea of the area and what we're up against. Hinata."

"Right." she replied. "Byakugan!"

The veins around her eyes began to become more prominent, signaling that she was indeed using her family's bloodline limit. She began to scan the ground around them, searching for any chakra signals in the base below them. They all watched as she looked thoroughly through everything she saw.

"What do you see, Hina-chan?" Naruto asked.

"It looks like a long corridor starting from the bottom of the stairs. It goes on for a while and eventually leads to one large room. Along the walls of the corridor are about ten smaller rooms." she answered, still looking around the large complex.

"What about people? Are there many enemies in there?" Kakashi question.

"I don't see any-Wait, there are two chakra signals in a room at the very end of the corridor. One of them seems very weak, like it's about to die..." she trailed off, turning off her Byakugan.

"Well, what are we waiting for!? We have to get in there!" Naruto yelled.

"Not so loud, Naruto." Kakashi scolded. "But you're right. The sooner we get in, the better. Let's go."

"Right." they said in unison, following him towards the stairs.

They ran down the stairs quickly, rushing down the hallway to where they hoped Sasuke was. The hallway seemed to go on forever, but they didn't stop running for a second, not wanting to miss what was the only chance they had been able to get and returning him to Konoha since he left.

There was a bright flash from one of the rooms towards the end, followed by a crashing sound. The sound of glass breaking and flames crackling filled the quiet hallway, confusing everyone. Suddenly, smoke drifted out of the room, filling the hallway. They covered their mouths to keep from inhaling the smoke and whatever else was burning.

They were two rooms away when something flew out of the room at the end and crashed into the wall, crumbling most of it and cracking the rest. They all stopped to examine the situation happening before them. It was hard to see through all of the smoke and dust. Hinata activated her Byakugan again to see through the obstruction. She gasped, deactivating it.

"What is it, Hinata?" Kakashi asked.

"It...It looks like a giant snake." she answered. "But...The face, I don't know how to explain. It's like a combination of serpent and human, but that's not possible. Is it?"

Before Kakashi could reply, a figure came walking out of the room and into the hallway. He was wearing loose clothing tied around with a thick purple sash. In his hand was a long katana. His dark hair stuck out everywhere, contrasting with his pale skin. But the thing that stuck out most about him were his eyes. They were bright red.

"Sa...Sasuke...kun..." Sakura whispered in disbelief.

He hadn't appeared to notice them, and continued with what he was doing. He walked toward the giant serpent, holding his katana up.

"Sasuke-kun, stop!"

Suddenly, Kabuto came running past them all, having regained his consciousness fairly quickly. Sasuke paused his actions for a moment, turning his head to look at Kabuto.

"Why, Sasuke-kun?" he asked. "What is the point in all of this!?"

Sasuke lowered his katana to his side, looking Kabuto right in the eyes.

"I don't have to justify myself to the likes of you." he said.

Kabuto gritted his teeth in anger, hating the Uchiha's arrogant attitude that he never ceased to exude.

"I won't let you do this!" he yelled. "I won't let you kill him!"

Kabuto charged at Sasuke, pulling out a kunai. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, dropping the kunai on the ground. He fell to his knees, blood spewing from his chest, and finally falling to the ground, dead.

"What? What happened to Kabuto?" Sakura asked out loud, barely audible.

"Sasuke sliced him with his katana." Kakashi replied, his Sharingan now activated.

"But, I didn't even see his hand move." Naruto said.

"He did it. It was just too fast for you all to see. I only caught it because I had activated my Sharingan when we got down here." Kakashi explained.

Sasuke turned to face the large serpent in front of his once again. He raised his katana above his head, preparing to behead the creature.

"You...Can't...Do this..." the creature struggled to say.

Everyone's eyes widened, shocked that the large serpent was capable of speech. Everyone but Sasuke.

"Orochimaru," Sasuke said. "You are weaker than me. I was once willing to give you my body in exchange for the power to kill my brother, Itachi. But that is no longer necessary. Your existence is pathetic. So I am ending it here."

Before the serpent that was Orochimaru could respond, Sasuke slammed his katana down, slicing his head off, sending blood flying. The serpent's head came clean off, rolling away from its lifeless body. The team stared in shock at witnessing such a cruel killing, and even more shock at the fact that it came from Sasuke, and that he had killed Orochimaru, one of the legendary Sannin.

"How long do you four plan to stand there?" Sasuke asked, directing his attention to them now that he finished his task.

"Sasuke..." Naruto said.

"Naruto." Sasuke replied. "Why did you come here?"

"We came here to-"

"To bring me back to Konoha?" Sasuke finished.

Naruto looked at him, not knowing what to say. Hinata reached out and placed her hand on the back of his shoulder, comfortingly. Sasuke continued when Naruto didn't reply.

"What exactly do you think would happen if I were to go back with you? That our lives would just go back to normal and everybody would be happy? It's far too late for that. I came here seeking the power that Konoha couldn't give me, and now I have it. What could you give me? What could Konoha give me that I don't already have in terms of power? I gained in three years here what Konoha couldn't give me in an entire lifetime."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled, pleadingly. "All of your friends are back in Konoha! You've gotten strong, so why can't you just come home with us?"

"Friends? I don't need friends. I destroyed those bonds when I left that village. I don't live for love, for friendships, for useless bonds. I live for revenge. You could never understand." he told her.

Before she could even think to reply, he was suddenly next to her, his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes widened, not even seeing him move towards her in the first place. She turned her head to look at him.

"What could you ever possibly know about me, Sakura?" he asked.

He began to raise his katana up slowly towards the back of her neck, intending to kill her in one blow.

"Sakura!" Kakashi yelled, grabbed her and pulling her back from him before he could deliver the blow.

"Damn it, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, charging at him with a kunai in hand.

Sasuke didn't even move to avoid the attack, delivering a powerful punch to the gut to Naruto right before he would have slashed him with the kunai. Naruto stumbled back, coughing blood before falling to the floor. Hinata ran to him, ignoring the danger around her. She knelt on the floor next to him, taking his hand.

"Naruto-kun, say something!" she pleaded desperately, hoping he was alright.

"I'm alright...Hina-chan..." he said as he fought to get back up, grasping her hand tightly.

"Oh? You got yourself a little girlfriend, did you? How cute. You can die together." he said, raising his katana to cut them both down.

"Sasuke, stop right there." Kakashi said, suddenly appearing behind him with a kunai aimed at his heart.

Sasuke paused, smirking at Kakashi. "You're still as fast as ever, Kakashi. Too bad, I'm faster."

Sasuke jabbed his elbow into Kakashi's stomach, knocking the breath out of him as he bent over in pain. There was an explosion in the room Sasuke had come out of and part of the wall crumbling down. The ceiling creaked, getting weaker as the fire slowly spread out of the room.

"Kabuto and his damn lab full of chemicals. This place won't last much longer." he looked towards the team in front of him. "You four are all that's in the way of me getting my revenge. Stand aside and let me go, or you'll all die."

Naruto finally stood up to face him, wiping the blood away from his mouth with the back of his wrist. Hinata backed up to stand with Sakura. She knew there was nothing she could do to fight Sasuke after seeing how fast and strong he was. She was no match for him at all.

Sakura was frozen in fear, unable to do a thing to fight. This was not the Sasuke she had known. This one was cold and dangerous, and had tried to kill her without a second thought. She didn't know what to do to help, or if she even could if she did know. Once again, she felt like a useless little girl.

"Sasuke," Naruto said. "You know we can't do that. We came here for you, we're leaving with you, whether you want to or not."

"You really think you can stop me, Naruto?" Sasuke asked mockingly.

Instead of answering the question, Naruto made the seals to summon a shadow clone. A single clone appeared next to him, and began molding chakra in his hand. When it finished, it disappeared, leaving Naruto with a fully formed Rasengan in his hand. He then began to charge at Sasuke with it.

"You still have the same old tricks." Sasuke stated. "How predictable."

He moved to the side right as Naruto was about to deliver the blow to his chest, making him instead hurl the Rasengan into the other wall, completely destroying it. Through the wall, several measuring glasses and test tubes could be seen, all full of the same chemicals in the room that was up in flames. If the fire got to it, there would surely be another large explosion, which would cause the entire place to cave in, crushing anybody who wasn't blown up by the explosion in the first place. Kakashi stood up from the ground, approaching Naruto.

"Naruto." he whispered, lifting the blonde up from the rubble. "We need to get out of here, and fast. This place won't last five minutes."

"I know, but what about bringing Sasuke back?" Naruto asked.

"We can't bring him back if we're dead, now can we?" Kakashi argued.

"But we've come so far, and waited so long, we can't just give up!" he shouted.

Kakashi sighed. "I wish there were another way, Naruto, but we can't do anything about it. I'm sorry. Get Hinata and Sakura and tell them we're leaving. I'll stall Sasuke."

Naruto finally gave in, accepting what he had to do. He ran to Hinata, explaining the situation to her. She nodded, turning to Sakura to see if she did, as well. But Sakura was oblivious to everything around her, still in shock over what had occurred moments ago.

"Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan! Hello?" Naruto sighed. "I'm really sorry for this, but we don't have time."

Naruto slowly raised his hand up and smacked Sakura across the face with it, snapping her out of her shocked state and bringing her back to reality. She blinked a few times, touching her cheek where Naruto had slapped her. She looked at him, not sure whether to be mad or not.

"Naruto, did you just-"

"I'm sorry! Really! But we need to get out of here, and fast. This place is going to explode and come crashing down any minute!" he interrupted.

Sakura looked at Hinata for confirmation, to which Hinata nodded.

"But, Sasuke-kun..." she argued.

"We know," Naruto said. "But there's nothing we can do except try to get out of here alive."

Sakura nodded. There would be other chaces, so long as they all made it out in time.

"Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this short. It was fun, really. But I have somewhere to be." Sasuke said to them all.

Sasuke then made a few seals, which Kakashi immediately recognized.

"Everybody, get towards the exit, now!" Kakashi shouted.

They all turned and ran at full speed, not looking back to see what was coming for them. In the background, Sasuke shouted what Kakashi feared.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Behind them, a massive amount of flames began to fill the hallway, coming rapidly towards them.

"We're not going to make it!" Sakura shouted.

"Yes, we will! We're almost there! Just a bit more!" Naruto shouted back.

"Keep running into the forest after we get through the exit! This place is going to explode and it's going to be huge!" Kakashi instructed, shouting over the roaring flames.

"But what about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi didn't answer, continuing to run the last few feet as they made it out of the exit just as the flames caught up, flying through the exit and into the air. They kept running until they were a good enough distance into the forest that they wouldn't be caught in the explosion. Then they all stopped to catch their breath in the fresh air, exhausted from fighting and running and breathing in so much smoke.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura asked once she caught her breath, "What about Sasuke-kun? How's he going to-"

She was interrupted by a loud booming sound, rattling the earth beneath their feet. She froze, looking in the direction of the loud noise. She looked back to Kakashi, who looked towards the ground and shook his head. She looked at Naruto and Hinata, both of whom were staring at the ground, grim expressions on their faces. Her face became deathly pale in horror.

"No..." she said shakily.

She started to run back towards the area they had just fled, hoping to find that her worst fears were wrong. She kept running and running, refusing to stop until she got there.

"It can't be true. It isn't true. They're wrong. They have to be." she told herself out loud.

When she finally arrived, the scene was horrible. The hideout was completely caved in, and glass was scattered all over the ground. The entire area was engulfed in flames except for where she stood at the edge of the forest. She looked around frantically, searching for some sort of proof that they were wrong. And then she saw it something that made her heart stop. As the other three arrived behind her, she dropped to her knees.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, running towards her.

Her body began to shake, and she bent forward, clutching something in her hand tightly. She didn't respond to him even when he placed his hand upon her back, trying to comfort her. She was sobbing loudly, holding the item close to her chest.

"Sakura-chan, what are you holding?" he asked her slowly.

It took a moment, but Sakura slowly began to lift herself enough to show Naruto what she had in her hands. She didn't stop crying, tears falling from her eyes onto the item. She slowly opened her hands to reveal what she had been clutching onto the whole time. The item was a large, burnt, blood-stained, but still recognizable scrap of white fabric with the Uchiha clan symbol on it. The same as the shirt Sasuke had been wearing before the explosion.

Naruto's eyes widened, and Sakura clutched the fabric tightly in her hands, holding it to her chest again. She was crying loudly now, horribly stricken with grief. He was gone. The man she loved was gone forever.

"Sa...Sa..." she tried to say between sobs.

"What are you-" Naruto started, before Sakura cut him off with a deafening scream.

"_SASUKE-KUN!_"


	8. Aftermath

**Can it really be? Yes! It's a new chapter! I realize it's been nearly 3 months, but I hope this long chapter makes up for it. I've been going through a multitude of things in the past couple months that made it hard for me to concentrate on my writing. All the stress made my writers block worse to the point that I didn't even open up Word for a month or so. But all is well now as I post this longer-than-usual chapter for you wonderful fans! Thank you for supporting me, giving me so much feedback, and not giving up on me when I take a while to update! You guys are amazing, and if it weren't for you, I'd have lost motivation a long time ago. Also, be warned that while I am out of school for the summer, I may be a bit distracted from writing the next chapter or two, doing summery things. Again, thank you all for supporting me and my writing. I love you all! As always, please review and tell me what you think of this chapter! Feel free to inbox me if you have any questions concerning the story, or any suggestions of what you might like to see in the story! Thank you, my lovelies! Goodbye! 3**

XXXXXXX

Everything seemed to slow down around her as she sank to her knees in the forest. Someone around her was screaming, but it didn't quite register to her that it was herself screaming. She couldn't move, and fought against everyone as they tried to pull her away from the fiery, bloody scene. She wanted to run back into the pile of blazing rubble and dig and dig until she found him, but nobody would permit it, and deep down, she realized it would only make things worse.

"Sakura-san...Sakura-san..."

Someone was yelling her name, but it sounded so far off. Slowly it got louder and louder, but she didn't respond. She was shaking now, and the voice echoed even louder.

"Sakura-san! Snap out of it!"

Suddenly, she was sitting straight up, breathing heavily and covered in a cold sheet of sweat, tears running down her face.

"Sakura-san!"

Her head shot up towards the voice calling her, which was coming from a middle-aged nurse standing next to her bed. A look of concern was on her face, and Sakura couldn't help but wonder how much of a mess she must look to cause that.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-san, but you were thrashing about in your sleep and crying loudly. You were having a bad dream and I felt the need to wake you." the nurse explained, leaving out the fact that it had woken up some of the other patients, too.

"It's...It's fine..." Sakura replied, slowly.

"I also came to tell you that you are free to leave the hospital at any time, Sakura-san. All you have to do is sign the discharge papers." She looked at Sakura for a moment. "However, if you are feeling...under the weather...feel free to stay and rest another day."

Sakura didn't reply at first, staring out the window of her hospital room. After a moment, in which the nurse wondered if Sakura had actually heard her, she turned to face her.

"Thank you, but I think I've spent enough time here. It's time I go to my own bed at home." she told the nurse, forcing a fake smile.

The nurse smiled back at Sakura. "Alright then, Sakura-san. The papers will be ready for you to sign at the reception counter. Take your time."

She turned to walk away, but paused at the doorway. She slowly turned around and walked back into the room a few steps.

"Oh, Sakura-san?" the nurse started. "Feel free to take as much time as needed off from the hospital. You've been through a lot, and I thought you could use some time to sort things out for yourself. You can come back whenever you are ready."

"Thank you." Sakura replied.

The nurse bowed slightly, turning to walk out of the room. When she was gone, Sakura sighed, falling back onto the hospital bed.

It had been a week since Sasuke had died, and she felt no better than she did when it first happened. If anything, she felt worse. When the team had stumbled back into Konoha, they were in bad shape. They had been bruised and cut up, and had sustained some severe burns from the fire that had nearly consumed them in the hallway as they had been running to make their escape. They had all checked into the hospital, even Kakashi, who usually refused to go to the hospital unless forced. One by one, they had all been checked out and recovered quickly. All except Sakura.

She had sustained only a few serious injuries, but had stayed the longest of all. The nurses had all been especially worried about her. When they would bring her meals, they would come back to find them completely untouched, Sakura refusing to eat. They had finally been able to make her eat a little bit each day, but not without struggle. She wouldn't talk to anyone, even when people came to visit her and offer their condolences. She would often wake up screaming during the night, always the same dream she had just come out of, something that became a routine in her few days sleeping there. Everybody had been worried that she would never snap out of it.

She had often wondered that, too. But after a few days, she realized she couldn't stay in the hospital forever, so she made an effort to pretend she was getting better. It proved successful, for after two days of the act she was finally allowed to leave.

She slowly forced herself to get out of bed, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion. She walked to the table at the foot of her bed, picking up the cards and flowers her friends had left her while she had been in the hospital. Lee had personally left most of the cards, wanting her to get back to herself as soon as possible. But she didn't much feel like going through the same old daily routine anymore. What was the point when the person she had done all of it for was gone for good, never to return to her?

Holding her gifts in her hands, she walked out of her room slowly, walking towards the reception counter to fill out her paperwork so she could go home.

"...Poor thing...At least she's eating again..."

"...She's been through so much...Felt sorry for her..."

"...Hope it's the right choice...Letting her go..."

"Quiet, I think I hear her coming."

As Sakura walked into the lobby, she overheard the nurses talking among each other, obviously about her. When they heard her coming, they immediately got quiet, pretending they had just been doing work. She didn't care anymore. All people had done since she arrived back in Konoha was whisper about her, whisper about Sasuke, whisper nonstop about anything they could behind her back. She thought it best to just try to ignore it and smile, even though it never was a genuine one.

The nurse at the reception counter handed her the clipboard with the forms for her to sign. She looked over it for a moment, putting her initials and signature in the appropriate places. After double checking to make sure she didn't forget anything important, she handed it back to the nurse, who smiled at her. She smiled back before thanking her, then turned and exited the hospital.

As she walked towards her apartment, she couldn't help thinking that it was too sunny for her cloudy mood. She took the shortest path home, not wanting to have to talk to anybody along the way. As she passed people, they would often stop what they were doing for a moment and look at her, feeling sorry for her.

Word had rapidly spread of Orochimaru's death, along with the death of the last Uchiha. So naturally, they would associate her with that incident for being there as it happened. Many found it to be a good thing that they were dead, since they were both threats to the village, but kept that quiet around her out of kindness. She pretended not to notice their stares, but she couldn't help but have the urge to yell at them mind their own business. She did no such thing, though, going on with her walk.

Despite taking the shortest way, the walk seemed to take forever. However, after what seemed like an eternity, she arrived at her apartment door and unlocked it, stepping inside. She immediately walked to the bathroom, checking her appearance in the mirror. She glanced at herself for a moment, then looked away in disgust. She looked like hell, but didn't feel up to doing anything about it. Her hair was tangled a bit, sticking out in a few places, and was greasy looking. She had bags under her eyes, looking like she hadn't slept in days, despite doing almost nothing but that since she got back.

She walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom, not bothering to change her clothes as she laid down on her bed for the first time in about a week. She pulled the covers up over her head, hiding herself away from the world. This was short-lived, however, when someone knocked on her apartment door.

She slowly removed her covers from herself, getting up with a sigh. She ran her hand through her hair momentarily, although it didn't do much to actually fix the tangled mess. She wiped the tears threatening to overflow from her eyes, approaching the door to greet the person behind it. When she opened it, Hinata and Naruto were standing at her doorstep.

She thought about telling them to go away, to leave her alone, but decided against it, knowing they were trying to help. They smiled at her, genuinely concerned about their friend. Everything that had been problematic between the three of them had disappeared since the mission ended. They were all just trying to be there for each other now.

"Hey there, Sakura-chan." Naruto greeted warmly, smiling at her.

"H-Hey, Naruto...Hinata..." she answered, forcing a smile.

"S-Sakura-san...We heard you were discharged and thought we'd stop by." Hinata said. "We brought this for you."

Hinata held out a bag filled with some fresh fruit and bread, waiting for Sakura to accept. Sakura hesitantly reached out and took the bag, nodding at Hinata.

"Thank you. Both of you." she told them.

"You're welcome, Sakura-san." Hinata answered.

Everyone stood there for a moment in silence, not sure where to go from there. None of them had all been together and talked since they got back. They had both visited Sakura in the hospital, but to say she had been unresponsive was an understatement. Sakura felt awkward, and she really wanted to tell them to leave, but decided the least she could do was invite them inside.

"Would...Would you guys like to come in?" she asked.

"Thank you, Sakura-san." Hinata replied. "Naruto-kun?"

"Sure, thanks, Sakura-chan." Naruto replied in agreement.

"A-Alright then." Sakura said, slowly stepping aside to allow them inside her small apartment.

They slowly walked through the doorway into her living room. After looking around for a moment, they both sat down on her couch. The sat there in silence, not knowing what to say to her at first. Sakura finally spoke up when neither of them did made an effort to do so.

"Would you two like something to drink?" she asked quietly.

"Sakura-chan, you don't have to-"

"No, you're guests, it's only right that I get you something to drink." she interrupted.

"Well, in that case, I'll just have some water." Hinata said.

"Yeah, me too." Naruto echoed.

Sakura nodded, leaving them momentarily to go to the kitchen. She reached up into her cupboard to get a couple glasses, then turned on her faucet, filling their glasses. When they were both full, she walked out of the kitchen, but paused for a moment when she caught Naruto reaching out and squeezing Hinata's hand. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she shook her head and forced them back, refusing to break down in front of them. They had already seen her in the hospital like that, she didn't need to go making them think she lost it.

She continued walking to the living room and set their glasses on the coffee table in front of them, sitting down on the couch opposite of them. They thanked her, picking up their glasses and sipping at the water she had brought them. Nobody said anything for a while, and the room was very silent, save for a clock ticking away on the wall.

"So, Sakura-chan," Naruto started, breaking the silence, "are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, I'm doing a bit better." Sakura lied.

"That's good to hear." He replied, Hinata nodding in agreement.

"Right…" Sakura answered, trailing off.

The room was silent again, nobody knowing how to continue. After a moment, Hinata spoke.

"Sakura-san, about everything that's happened lately…" Hinata started, trying to find the words. "We just wanted to say that…Well, both of us hope that everything that's happened lately can stay in the past."

Sakura stared back, confused. She had no clue as to what Hinata was referring to. She could be talking about any number of things for all she knew.

"What she…Well, what we both mean is that we hope everything that's happened won't affect our friendship. Life's short, and we can't let silly things get in the way of enjoying it." Naruto told her.

Sakura said nothing, not knowing what exactly to say. To her, it hadn't been silly things, as he put it. She loved Naruto, but couldn't do anything about it now that he was with Hinata. She was trying to accept it and move on, but things kept getting worse. She didn't know how she was going to make it through all of what had happened on the mission. Her first love was dead, and her new love was taken from her just as she noticed him. To say she was miserable would be the biggest understatement she could think of.

Naruto sat there looking at her in silence for a moment... He turned to look at Hinata, sharing a confused glance with her. They weren't sure she had even heard what they said. Naruto was just about to ask Sakura if she had heard him when she started to say something.

"You're both right. It's nothing to ruin a friendship over. Let's just put it behind us, okay?" she said, forcing a smile.

They both stared back in silence at her. Something was definitely up and they both knew it. She wasn't resisting them or fighting anything they said. She just blindly agreed with them. Hinata was especially suspicious. Sakura would never dismiss her feelings for Naruto as silly things. She was in worse condition than they had expected. Sasuke's death had really done a number on her if this was how she was acting. But there was nothing they could do to help her right now except give her some space.

"Sakura-chan, are you sure you—

"Naruto-kun, I just remembered, my father wanted to speak with us. We shouldn't make him wait!" Hinata interrupted.

Naruto paused, seeming to go a bit pale for a second. He turned to look at Hinata, not remembering this being planned at all. But if Hinata said so, there was no way he was going to risk angering her father.

"O-Oh…Well, let's not make him wait, right?" Naruto said, scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously.

"Right." she said before turning to Sakura. "We're sorry to rush out so suddenly, Sakura-san."

"Oh...No it's perfectly fine. You two do what you need to do. We'll hang out some other time." Sakura answered, silently thanking Hinata.

"Definitely." Hinata replied, giving Sakura a look of understanding.

Hinata grabbed Naruto's hand, leading him out of Sakura's apartment. When the door closed, everything was quiet. Sakura made sure they were a good distance away before finally getting up from her couch and walking towards her room. She slowly climbed back into bed and pulled the covers up over her head. She just wanted everybody to leave her alone and let her suffer in the confines of her home. After what seemed like hours, sleep finally took her.

**XXXXXXX**

Naruto and Hinata walked down the stairs outside of Sakura's apartment hand in hand, completely silent. Naruto was especially silent, having gone extremely pale. Hinata looked up at him worriedly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked her in the eyes, his own looking downright frightened. He opened his mouth to say something but just couldn't get the words to come out.

"Naruto-kun, what is it?" Hinata asked, growing more worried now as he began to look sick.

"I…I thought we agreed…" he struggled to say.

"Oh no, Naruto-kun, I was just saying that as an excuse to leave! Don't worry, we agreed to wait." Hinata assured him.

Naruto's look slowly changed to one of relief. He smiled at Hinata before suddenly pulling her into an embrace, catching her by surprise. She lightly squealed, still not quite used to his actions yet, but smiled at the gesture and wrapped her arms around him tightly. He turned his head to the side slightly and kissed her softly on the cheek before slowly letting her go.

"Look, don't get me wrong, Hina-chan. I do want to tell your father about us, but it just really took me by surprise a moment ago."

Hinata nodded and he continued.

"We agreed to wait on everything until things from the mission cooled down. I'm fine with whatever you want to do, just let me know before you're going to say something like that, please."

"Of course, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied.

Naruto laughed, crossing his arms behind his head.

"After all, how am I supposed to always be with you if I have a heart attack every time something like this happens?"

Hinata laughed with Naruto for a moment before they both stopped and looked up towards Sakura's apartment. They frowned slightly, looking at each other and sharing looks of concern. Neither said anything as they turned away from the apartment complex and began walking through the streets of Konoha.

They walked along quietly through the streets, occasionally answering the greetings of people who recognized them together. Although they had not told anybody yet, people were beginning to get ideas about the two of them. They were almost never apart from each other since coming back, unusual to those who knew they had never interacted as much before. While they were not outright announcing their relationship to the village, they did nothing to stop any rumors that were spread about them being together.

In the short time since coming back from the mission, the two had seemed to already fall into a routine together. Each day they would meet up around noon at the training grounds and go to get lunch together, whether it was at a restaurant or just staying in at Naruto's apartment. Naruto had taken to keeping his home more cleanly in case Hinata would be over. She usually did the cooking when they chose to stay in, seeing as Naruto's cooking skills mostly consisted of cup ramen and eggs, and even the eggs were a bit too salty. She didn't mind doing the cooking, though. It made her feel like they were already married and living together, and the thought always made her smile.

When they went out for food, it was usually between Ichiraku, curry, or yakitori. They would sit down and enjoy their meal together while talking about various things. Then they would both go to visit Sakura, usually proving useless as she never seemed to change. Even today she had seemed to have gotten no better, merely playing the part of feeling better. Today they had decided to go see Sakura first, seeing as she had been discharged earlier, so they were walking to Naruto's apartment to relax together.

After a short while, they were already up the stairs and opening the door to his apartment. The usual clutter that decorated the blonde's home had long since been cleaned up since the two had started dating. Naruto had attempted to clean up the first time he came home from the hospital, seeing as he had healed and been discharged from the hospital before anyone else because of the kyuubi's chakra. However, his attempt had proved futile. He had ended up somehow making more of a mess than there had originally been, even though he had put the original mess away. He finally just gave up and spent his days visiting Hinata in the hospital until she was discharged shortly after he was.

He had told Hinata how he had tried to clean up for her and apologized for it not being good enough, but she just laughed it off and assured him it was okay. When she was released from the hospital, after visiting Sakura for a little bit, they went to his house and she helped him clean up a bit. He made a habit to remember how she did it and since then had been doing a fairly decent job about maintaining it. He wanted to make sure everything was as she deserved it to be.

As they walked through the door to his apartment and into the living room, removing their shoes by the door, they fell into their now routine movements. Naruto walked over to the couch and sat down, removing his orange jacket and placing it over the back of the couch. Hinata removed her lavender jacket and placed it over the dining chair she would be sitting at, then walked into the kitchen. She had asked Naruto to pick up a few things for his kitchen since she had been coming over so much, which he happily agreed to do for her. His kitchen had long since become hers, now foreign territory to him. He couldn't find a thing in there now if he tried to look for something. Not that he really minded.

Hinata navigated through the kitchen expertly. She went to the cupboards above the sink, pulling out a large skillet. She placed it on the stove burner along with a tea kettle. She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a medium sized brown paper bag full of ingredients. She set it down on the counter and went to the drawer beside the sink. She opened it and removed a peach colored apron. She tied it on over her white shirt and dark pants before going to the drawer adjacent to the one she had just opened, pulling out a very sharp looking knife.

Naruto looked up to see what Hinata was doing, curious about the meal to come. He'd found it best to stay out of the kitchen when Hinata was there, feeling like he was just in the way. However, when he looked up, the image of Hinata holding a giant blade made his eyes bulge out of his head. He quickly looked away and stared at the cracks between each wooden board in the floor. There was no way he was looking or going over there again until she was done. He knew what was next, and it was slightly frightening.

In the kitchen, Hinata had just finished loading rice into the steamer and set it to cook. She turned to the counter again and reached into the bag, pulling out garlic, lemon, green onion, and shrimp. She picked up the large knife again and grabbed the green onions. She began what she thought was slowly chopping the vegetables peacefully. However, outside of her own perception of what she was doing was an entirely different image.

Naruto couldn't help it and glanced up at Hinata again. His mistake cost him the will to look away. Hinata was furiously chopping away at the ingredients before her, slicing them all at a speed he didn't think was possible before she had started coming over. The look in her eyes while wielding the blade was downright frightening. It was like something possessed her when she cooked. The image in his eyes was that of a very beautiful demon. And this was the very reason he never dared go in the kitchen when she was in there. He would be in the way of her chopping and risk getting caught in it and served for dinner.

He continued to stare for what felt like forever until she was done chopping everything. In reality only a few minutes passed by, but in that time everything had been sliced and diced perfectly and neatly. He was always amazed how she did it so perfectly and yet so frighteningly. But it didn't matter that much as her cooking was always amazing. Since they had been dating, he must have gained what felt like fifty pounds from eating all of her delicious food. She always made plenty so there was enough for him to eat for dinner or a snack while she was away. And he loved every bit of it.

Naruto heard the familiar sound of food sizzling as it hit the hot skillet, and soon after was surrounded by the smell of her delicious cooking. Everything had timed out perfectly, the kettle whistling within a minute of the steamer signaling the rice was done. Hinata turned the stove burners off and moved the skillet back onto a cool burner so the food didn't scorch.

She reached into the cupboards and pulled out two plates and cups, walking out of the kitchen to set them onto the table. This was Naruto's signal to move to the dining table and take his seat. As he sat down, he was greeted with Hinata's smiling face as she poured his tea for him. He returned the smile before she walked back into the kitchen to get the rest of the meal. She came back holding the container from the steamer that the rice was in, bringing it to him and scooping hot rice onto his plate, following by doing the same to hers before returning to the kitchen to retrieve the main dish. The skillet was still slightly sizzling, and the smell wafted out around it, filling the room. Naruto's mouth watered at the smell, and even more when he saw it. Hinata carefully filled the rest of his plate with shrimp covered in lemon juice and joined with chopped garlic, green onions, and thinly sliced lemon.

Naruto waited as she did the same with her own plate and then brought the rest of the food that was in the skillet, which was still nearly half full, back to the kitchen. She came back holding two sets of chopsticks, placing one set before him and the other in front of her own plate before sitting down.

"The food looks delicious, Hina-chan!" Naruto told her warmly.

Hinata blushed a little bit at his compliment.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun, but you always say that." she replied.

"Well that's because it's always true. Your cooking is amazing. One day maybe I'll learn from you!" he said.

Hinata giggled, loving that she could make him so happy by simply cooking for him.

"Well, let's not let it get cold then, right?" she asked.

"Right!" he replied. "Itadakimasu!"

He quickly began to shove all of the food down his throat at lightning speed, making noises of approval and occasionally saying how much he loved the food. Hinata smiled at his enthusiasm as he ate, finding it both funny and sweet that he took the time to make her feel important and talented when it came to things like cooking, even if it was all involuntary. She began to eat her food as well, though not nearly as fast, liking how it had come out. She was about halfway done with her own share of it when Naruto finished his off. She smiled at him, suppressing a laugh. She had long ago joined the long list of people who wondered how he ate so much food so fast and didn't regurgitate it with five minutes. But as long as it made him happy, she didn't mind.

Naruto grabbed his tea and downed it quickly, immediately refilling the cup with the kettle Hinata had put on the table.

"Aaaahhh. That was absolutely delicious, Hime." he told her for about the fifth time.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, Naruto-kun." she replied, lightly blushing at the pet name he had bestowed upon her when they started dating.

"I really did. You could put Ichiraku to shame easily." he said, taking a sip of his new cup of tea.

Hinata paused. He really thought it was _that _good? She felt honored, knowing how highly he regarded the ramen hut.

"Naruto-kun…I don't know what to say. Thank you." Hinata slowly replied.

"My pleasure, Hime." he said with a grin.

Hinata smiled and finished off the rest of her meal before standing up to take the plates away to the kitchen to wash. While she did that, Naruto got up and went to his room and laid down on the bed, head propped up by his arm against the pillow. After a few minutes, Hinata entered the room and joined him on the bed. He wrapped his free arm around her waist, pulling her form closely against his.

She loved the feeling of his warm, masculine body against hers. It just felt so right to be laying there with him. Sometimes she still didn't believe it was all real and that Naruto was really with her. But then he would squeeze her waist lightly or kiss the back of her head and she would snap back to reality. She was with Naruto Uzumaki. And she intended to stay that way.

Hinata had gotten so comfortable that she had begun to doze off a little bit. She was awoken when she heard a voice next to her ear.

"Hime? You awake?" Naruto murmured into her ear.

"Mmhmm…" she replied sleepily.

"Can I ask you something?" Naruto asked.

Hinata opened her eyes and turned her head back towards him a bit, giving him her full attention.

"What is it, Naruto-kun?"

"Well," he started, "I was just wondering…when exactly should we tell your father about us?"

"Oh. I hadn't really thought about it." she replied.

"Well, we originally planned to tell him when we got back from the mission." Naruto continued.

Hinata nodded, indicating that he should continue.

"But with everything that happened, we agreed it wasn't the best time to do that. Now I'm just wondering, what _is_ the best time to tell him?"

Hinata was silent for a moment, thinking. Naruto had a point. There was always something that seemed to be going on, so why was this any different? But if they waited to tell him, when was the right time to do it? It was a very confusing situation that they appeared to be in. After a moment, she finally answered.

"I really don't know, Naruto-kun."

Naruto laid there in silence for a moment while he thought about what to do. He couldn't think of any solution to when they should go about doing it.

"Well, we have plenty of time to tell him, I suppose. Let's not worry about it, alright? Forget I mentioned it." Naruto concluded.

Hinata nodded in agreement.

Naruto smiled down at his partner lovingly before leaning down and kissing her cheek. He rubbed her waist affectionately. But as he did it, he let his hand sweep over the curve of her hip slowly. His hand trailed down her hips to her toned and curvaceous thigh, massaging gently.

He could hear her breathing deepen and her hums of approval as his hands explored. He bent down and trailed kisses up her jawline and to her ear before taking the lobe into his mouth and sucking on it gently. Hinata gasped, not expecting the sudden jolt of pleasure that followed. She had never known how sensitive her ear was until he had done that, nor had she known it could be sensitive in that way to begin with. Naruto was showing her entirely new ways of feeling, and she loved each and every one of them.

He slowly pulled her onto her back, leaning over her to look at her face to face. He smiled sweetly at her, his bright blue eyes slightly darkened with lust. He bent down and connected his lips with hers, gently at first, but slowly deepening the kiss. She wrapped her arms around him as he pressed closer to her. His arm reached down and caressed her thigh again, lifting it and holding it against him.

Gently, he prodded his tongue at her lower lip, seeking entrance. She immediately obliged, parting her lips for him to insert his tongue. He grazed his tongue gently over her teeth, seeking her own tongue to massage with his. He fully explored her mouth, claiming it as his own. After it became too much for them to handle anymore, they parted to catch their breath, panting heavily.

Before Hinata could fully catch her breath, Naruto had already started up again, running his hands up and down her thighs and kissing her neck. He nipped at the spot between her neck and shoulder, causing her to arch her back.

"Mmm, Naruto-kun…" she moaned.

Naruto smirked devilishly.

"Do you like what I'm doing to you, Hime?" he whispered huskily into her ear.

Hinata nodded, but that wasn't what Naruto wanted.

"Say it out loud, Hime. Tell me how you're feeling." he breathed into her ear.

"I…I love it, Naruto-kun…Please…Keep going." she answered timidly.

"Tell me what you want me to do to you." he said, his voice deep and filled with lust.

"I-I don't—

"How about this?" Naruto interrupted, licking from the bottom of her neck up to her earlobe.

"Aahh, th-that's good." Hinata gasped.

"Or how about this?"

He trailed his fingers up her stomach until they met with her full breasts. He slid his hand over one of them and squeezed lightly. Hinata tried to hold back a moan, but as he slowly began massaging her breast, it became more and more difficult.

"Don't hold back, Hinata-hime. I want to see how I'm affecting you." he rasped.

Before she could reply, he moved to bring his knee over her, straddling her hips and pinning her to the bed. He brought his other hand to join the first, squeezing and playing with both of her breasts now, causing her to react loudly.

"Oh! Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed, both in surprise and pleasure.

"I take it you like it when I do this?" he asked, smiling down at her mischievously.

"Yes! Yes, Naruto-kun!" Hinata moaned.

Satisfied with her answer, he bent down and began to kiss and suck on her neck and down to her shoulder, eliciting moans and gasps from Hinata. A deep red blush had long ago formed over her face, and she was no longer holding back her reactions. This only proved to be a giant turn-on for Naruto, who was having trouble keeping himself from moving things along too fast for Hinata.

Slowly, Naruto began to move his hands away from her breasts, to which Hinata whimpered in protest.

"Naruto-kun, no…"

"Relax, Hime." he breathed into her ear. "I think you're like this."

Naruto's hands trailed down until they reached the edge of her white shirt, gripping it firmly. He looked up at Hinata's face for her approval to continue. She slightly nodded, signaling that he could proceed. He began to slowly inch her shirt up her toned stomach and over her breasts. She reached her arms over her head and he slid her shirt completely off, tossing it to the side.

He looked down and admired her full breasts closely, which were adorned with a lacy powder blue bra. Hinata caught his gaze and, out of instinct, moved her arms to cover her chest. No matter how worked up she was, she was still a bit insecure about being nearly naked in front of someone, even if it was Naruto. His eyes caught her movements and his hands shot out and grabbed her wrists.

"Hina-chan, don't hide yourself from me." he smiled warmly, almost innocently. "You're beautiful, you don't need to hide."

"But, it's embarrassing…" she argued, turning away from his gaze.

"Hime, look at me." Naruto coaxed and slowly, she turned to face him.

He touched her cheek softly, leaning in and kissing her lightly on the lips.

"You don't need to be embarrassed and hide from me, Hime. You're so beautiful, I never want to look away. I love you so much, please don't hide from me."

She didn't respond with words, but Naruto felt her slowly relax her arms in his grip. He smiled at her lovingly, to which she returned his gaze. She brought her head up and kissed him timidly, slowly gaining some confidence and deepening the kiss. Naruto felt his tongue being drawn into her mouth once again to tangle with her own.

He soon pulled away in favor of moving down towards her chest. His hands cupped her breasts and squeezed firmly, causing breathless moans from her. He leaned down and licked the space between the soft mounds, causing Hinata to arch her back in ecstasy. She was panting hard now, and didn't think she could handle much more of this. Then she felt his hand down at the waistband of her pants, waiting for her permission to slide them down her legs and expose her half naked body.

"Can I?" he asked huskily.

Everything in him wanted to rip them off along with her panties and take her right then and there, but he loved her too much to do that to her. He wanted to make her first time be special, something to look back on and smile. Even if it meant being patient and holding back, making his already painfully hard erection throb and strain against his pants. He would do anything to make her happy and try to give her everything she deserved. To make her first time a moment to remember was something that was not optional. He only hoped he could be good enough for her since he didn't really know what he was doing. He was going purely on instinct, but it seemed to be working so far.

He looked her in the eyes, and while he saw desire there, he also saw a hint of doubt, of hesitation. He moved his hand away from her pants to cup her cheek. He leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips.

"It's okay if you don't want to, Hime." he assured her. "We can wait as long as you want until you feel ready."

"I-It's not that, Naruto-kun." Hinata replied, scooting back to sit up.

"Then what is it that's stopping you?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"Well," she started, looking down and twiddling her thumbs. "It's just that…Actually, I'm not really sure."

Naruto looked at her, a thoroughly confused expression on his face.

"I mean…I want to. I really do." she continued. "But I feel bad that after everything that's happened, we're doing this."

Naruto nodded, starting to understand what she meant now.

"Seeing how bad Sakura-san is after Sasuke-kun's death…" she went on "It makes me feel really bad. I didn't know him all that well, and he's done some bad things, but you and Sakura-san were his teammates. She's broken up about it, but you're with me acting as if it doesn't bother you. It's like we're saying we don't care."

Naruto sighed, wondering why Sasuke was messing things up even in death. He laid back on the bed, gathering his thoughts. It wasn't that he didn't care, he was definitely hurt over Sasuke's death. Whether he liked it or not, the dumbass was his teammate, and even his friend. He did terrible things and deserted his village in favor of joining someone who wished for its destruction. But at the same time, Naruto and Sasuke were very similar. He felt for him and reached out to him, only to get his hand slapped away. He didn't want to be helped, so there was nothing anyone could really do for him. In the end it had cost him his life.

Naruto finally looked up at Hinata, having gathered the words to explain why he was acting like this.

"I do care about his death. He was a friend and teammate. But he deserted everyone and put people in danger. Sure, I was sad for a couple days, but I know that nothing can be done. We just have to live our lives. That's all we really can do."

Hinata nodded, but didn't look up.

"But what about Sakura-san? She's in terrible shape because of it all."

Naruto sighed.

"That's a different story entirely. She was completely in love with him, though I don't really understand why. He treated her awful. But you can't control how you feel about someone. How she is about his death now is how I'd be if something were to happen to you."

He sat up behind her on the bed, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head into her shoulder.

"I could never live with myself if I let something happen to you. I will protect you even if it kills me." he said, his breath against her back.

"Naruto-kun…" she whispered.

"It's okay if you don't want to do this. I understand." he said, his lips brushing against her skin.

He kissed her shoulder gently, still holding her tightly in his arms.

"Just…Not at this moment. Let's wait until everything settles down from the mission. But we will soon, Naruto-kun. I promise." she told him, hugging the arms at her stomach.

Her bare stomach. Suddenly she realized just how exposed she was again. She opened her eyes and turned her head to face spiky blonde hair.

"Eto….Naruto-kun?" she asked timidy.

"Yes, Hime?" he said, looking up to meet her face.

"Well…Can you hand me my shirt?" she asked, blushing in both embarrassment and at the pet name.

"Oh, right. Sure." he said, releasing her from his grasp. "Although, I think what you have on now suits you nicely."

"N-Naruto-kun!" she squealed, blushing bright crimson in mortification as he tossed her shirt to her.

Naruto giggled at her reaction as she pulled her shirt on quickly to cover herself.

"Relax, Hina-chan. I told you, you're beautiful. There's no need to hide yourself from me." he assured her calmly.

"I guess…" she replied, looking away.

He reached out and pulled her face gently to face his before planting a kiss on her lips. When he finally broke the kiss, he found her smiling. He smiled in turn, placing another kiss gently upon her lips. He laid back on the bed, pulling her along with him as they had been before.

He placed his arm around her waist once again, her back to him as they relaxed on his bed. He placed a kiss to the back of her head. Hinata smiled, closing her eyes as he did this.

"I love you, Hinata-hime." he whispered from behind her, starting to doze off.

"I love you too, Naruto-kun." she whispered in return, falling into sleep along with him.

**XXXXXXX**

The weather seemed just a bit too cheerful for Kakashi as he walked through the streets of Konoha. It was the middle of the afternoon, perfectly sunny, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Everyone except him. He trudged a bit more lazily than usual as he walked, hand in pockets, his slouch seeming even more prominent than usual. He had forgone taking his usual book with him to read, finding no interest in it. He felt like utter and complete trash.

His health was perfectly fine, seeing as he was the second to be released from the hospital after Naruto. But once he was released, he didn't leave it much. He was constantly by Sakura's side, making sure she was okay, and when he found that she wasn't he had grown extremely worried. He had stayed away from Naruto and Hinata, vanishing whenever they came to visit her, but he stayed with Sakura as much as possible while she was in the hospital.

She never knew he had been there, though. He hadn't even so much as left a card or flowers for her while she was in there, but he made up for it by watching over her. Some could say he was a bit of a stalker, but it was all a matter of opinion. To the nurses in the hospital, he had been a concerned ex-sensei. He didn't quite know why he paid so much more attention to her wellbeing than he did to Naruto and Hinata's this whole time, but he just chalked it up to the fact that he felt like a failure as her sensei. Naruto had become exceptionally strong, as had Sasuke under his tutelage, but Sakura had always lagged behind. He had never been able to give her the proper training that made her the strong kunoichi she was today.

He had just come from the hospital, finding that Sakura had finally been discharged. He had been hoping to see her there, curious and hopeful that she had made progress. When he had found out that she refused to eat or drink anything for a while, he had become extremely worried. He wanted to help in any way possible, but he had no idea how. Sasuke's death had completely destroyed her, and it killed him to see her like that.

He stopped walking and, looking up, he found himself across the street from her apartment complex. He hadn't been paying attention and his feet just took him there. He should have just turned around there, but something held him there. He felt the need to be there. However, he'd never visited her at home before, so wouldn't it be weird to do so now?

After everything they'd gone through together, maybe it wouldn't be too strange for him to stop by and see how she was doing, especially after the recent events. He took a step towards her building, but froze when he saw the door to her apartment open. Before he could think, he immediately hid in a nearby alley. He poked his head out to see Naruto and Hinata exiting her apartment and descending down the stairs.

He sighed, disappointed in himself. Even the two of them had visited her, and yet he couldn't bring himself to cross the street to her apartment. This was pathetic. Why was he so overly protective of her, yet too nervous to visit her while she was at least conscious? She was his student, nothing more. They had one bad incident while she had been vulnerable, but they agreed it was nothing more than a moment of weakness on both of their parts. It meant nothing. So why was he feeling like this towards her, but not towards Naruto or Hinata? He didn't understand at all.

He looked again to find Naruto and Hinata leaving in the opposite direction of his location, so he slowly came out of hiding. He glanced up at Sakura's apartment for a moment. The lights were off and the curtains were closed, but he had just seen Naruto and Hinata leave, so he knew she must be home. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to leave her alone and let her get some rest.

He turned and started walking down the street aimlessly. He had no idea what was going on with him, and he didn't like it. Never before had he been so confused about anyone, let alone his students. Thinking about it made his head spin, so many thoughts jumbled together and racing through his head. He stopped in front of a bar, glancing at it for a moment as he contemplated what he was going to do. Finally, he turned and walked towards the doors, pulling them open.

"Screw it, I need a drink." he muttered, letting the door close behind him.

**XXXXXXX**

Sakura had been awoken in the middle of the evening to loud knocking on her door. It was almost dark, and she wanted nothing more than to go back to bed, but she got up and walked towards the door. She lazily rand her hand through her short hair in a feeble attempt to look decent.

"Who the hell is bothering me this late…" she muttered under her breath.

She opened the door to find the last people she expected to see in front of her.

"K-Kotetsu-san…Izumo-san…" she said, mildly surprised.

"Ah, Sakura-san," Kotetsu started, smiling warmly, "Glad to see you're out of the hospital."

Sakura looked to see Izumo nodding in agreement. When she didn't respond, Izumo spoke up.

"Ah, well," he started, uncomfortably scratching his head and looking away. "Might as well get down to the point. Tsunade-sama sent us to get you. She wants you in her office."

Sakura crossed her arms in front of her, frowning.

"Now?" she asked.

"Yes," Kotetsu answered. "As soon as possible, she said."

Showing obvious displeasure about having to go, she nodded silently.

"Well, it can't be helped." she looked up at them. "Thank you, Izumo-san, Kotetsu-san."

"Y-You're welcome, Sakura-san." Izumo stuttered, not sure what to make of her behavior.

"Well, uh, we should be going now. Just get there as soon as you can, Sakura-san." Kotetsu said, walking away with Izumo.

"Alright. Thank you, guys." she replied.

She turned around and closed the door, sighing and leaning against it. She just couldn't catch a break today. And now she actually had to at least attempt to look decent if she was going to see the Hokage. She pushed herself off the door and started walking to her room.

She grabbed a brush and ran it through her hair. She set it down and went to the bathroom and picked up her toothbrush, wetting it. When she finished brushing her teeth, she turned on the warm water and washed her face. She grabbed a small towel and patted her face dry, looking in the mirror. It wasn't as good as it could be, but it'd have to do. She didn't have time to completely get cleaned up. She turned on her heels and walked out of the bathroom and to the door. She grabbed her sandals by the door and slipped them on, then walked out of her apartment and down the main road towards the tower.

The sun was setting behind the hills when she entered the tower and began ascending the stairs. She groggily made her way up the seemingly never ending stairs, wishing she could just sink back into bed and hide away. She heard voices ahead and followed them to the Hokage's office. She knocked on the door softly, hearing the voices cease as she did so.

"Come in." she heard Tsunade say.

She slowly opened the door to find Tsunade sitting at her desk as usual, accompanied by Shizune at her side. Standing in the middle of the room were Naruto, Hinata, and Kakashi. All eyes were on Sakura as she slowly closed the doors behind her.

"W-What's going on?" Sakura asked, very puzzled.

"Well, now that you're here, Sakura, I can tell everyone exactly that." Tsunade replied.

Sakura walked to the middle of the room to stand with the others, feeling a little bad that she took as long as she did to get there. If she had known there would be more than just herself there, she would have left immediately.

"Baa-chan, what is it already? Sakura-chan's here now. Tell us, tell us!" Naruto pleaded impatiently.

"If you'll be quiet for a moment, Naruto, I can tell you." Tsunade answered, mildly irritated at being called baa-chan.

"Ah, sorry." Naruto said, laughing nervously.

Hinata placed her hand on Naruto's arm and smiled at him, calming his nerves almost immediately as he smiled back. Kakashi merely shook his head tiredly at everything going on. As tiresome as this all was, he was relieved to see Sakura up and about, despite that dead look in her eyes. He had caught it almost immediately when she walked in, and it made his heart beat painfully for a moment. While it was good that she was out of the hospital, something told him that she was no better on the inside than she had been on the outside during her entire stay in there.

"If I can have all of your attention," Tsunade started, shooting Naruto a dangerous glance that made him immediately look up. "I have just received new information from the Anbu squad that has been investigating the scene of the explosion."

Hearing about the mission was the last thing Sakura wanted right now. She never wanted to think about the place where Sasuke met his demise again. She felt her body tense up and started to tune out everything and let her gaze remain on the floor, no longer interested in the topic.

"Now let me tell you, I don't want to get any of your hopes up." she continued, her gaze setting on Sakura. "But while there were many human and nonhuman remains found, two of which are confirmed to be Orochimaru and Yakushi Kabuto, there has been no official evidence confirming Uchiha Sasuke being claimed in the explosion."

Everyone immediately looked up at this. Sakura snapped back to reality for a moment at hearing this, opening her eyes completely for the first time since returning. She couldn't believe she was hearing right.

"Tsunade-sama, are you…Is this really true?" she struggled to say.

"As I said, Sakura, I don't want to get any of your hopes up. But yes, there is a chance that Sasuke may be alive after all, though it amazes me how he could be." Tsunade answered, smiling warmly at Sakura.

Sakura couldn't believe it. There was actually some hope left. Maybe Sasuke was alive after all. An overwhelming feeling was taking over her, and she soon recognized it as relief and happiness.

"Baa-chan, does this mean we have another mission? Are we going to search for him?" Naruto asked quickly, seemingly excited by the news.

"Calm down for a moment so I can explain." Tsunade said.

While she was a little irritated at him interrupting so much, Tsunade couldn't help but be happy at seeing Naruto's enthusiasm, along with seeing Sakura seem to wake up from whatever trance she was in. After a brief pause, she continued.

"The Anbu are still searching the area for anything useful to us, so we have to wait and see what happens. Until we get word otherwise, we will assume Sasuke is still alive. However, no mission shall be assigned until we have good enough reason to believe that it is needed. In the meantime, I want you all to get back to training. From what I hear, Sasuke has become considerably strong. It won't do to send you all on a mission to retrieve him if you don't have the power to do so. I believe you four together are the most capable to bring Sasuke back to Konoha."

"All right!" Naruto yelled, throwing his fist in the air in excitement.

"I'm glad to hear you're all happy about this." Tsunade said, smiling warming to all of them.

"Of course we are!" Naruto shouted.

"Good. All of you but Kakashi are dismissed." Tsunade replied, a smile on her face.

Sakura caught the slight change in her tone as they began walking out. Something wasn't right. As the three of them exited the office, the door closing behind them, Sakura stopped walking. After a few steps ahead, Naruto and Hinata stopped and turned around, wondering why she wasn't walking anymore.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong? Aren't you coming?" Naruto asked.

"Shh." she replied.

"But I thought we'd get ramen for—

"I said shush!" Sakura whispered.

Naruto and Hinata shared looks of confusion as they stared at Sakura. She slowly turned around and placed her ear on the door to Tsunade's office. Hinata looked at Naruto, who shrugged in response. Sakura ignored their little exchange as she listened to what was going on behind the door, using chakra to enhance her hearing.

**XXXXXXX**

"Kakashi," Tsunade began, her voice now grim. "I wish I could be the bearer of better news. Although, I'm sure you saw this coming."

Kakashi frowned behind his mask, not liking where this was going. It had been a few hours since he had left the bar, so he was already sobered up. The way this was looking, he thought he may just need another drink after all.

"Based on what you said in your mission report, Sasuke acted incredibly hostile towards not only Orochimaru and Kabuto, but towards you four as well. He intended to kill you all, did he not?"

Kakashi merely nodded, knowing where this was going.

"I see." Tsunade said solemnly. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this, but there is a very high chance that the orders towards Sasuke may change if and when I send you all to retrieve him, if he is actually alive."

"And what exactly would those orders be, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer.

Tsunade sighed. She didn't want to say this, but it was necessary. She wished it could be any other way, but rules were in place for a reason. She had to be blunt about it, rather than sugarcoat it, no matter how much she hated it.

"Due to his aggression towards people from his own village, and the choices he made in the past to desert it in the first place, I can't see any other outcome than him being put to death once he has been fully interrogated."

Kakashi nodded, understanding that it couldn't be helped. It was a surprise it hadn't already been put on the table when Sasuke first left to go with Orochimaru. But it didn't hurt any less that his own student was so out of hand that it was very likely he would be put to death. He was even sadder about how Naruto and Sakura would react when they found out.

"I understand. Thank you for telling me, Hokage-sama." he replied after a long pause.

"I am sorry about this, Kakashi. I can only imagine how you must feel. He was your student, after all." Tsunade said, trying to comfort Kakashi in any way possible.

"It is alright. I knew it would most likely come to this. I had just hoped it wouldn't be for a long time to come." he answered.

"Very well. You are dismissed." Tsunade said, pulling out a bottle of sake.

Kakashi turned and walked towards the door. He felt exhausted from all of this. Just as they got good news, the bad news came crashing down upon them. He really needed a break. Perhaps when all of this was dealt with, it wouldn't seem too outrageous to ask for a more than lengthy break from work. However, all thought about himself and his exhaustion left him as he opened the door.

In front of him was Sakura, looking up at him in horror. How much had she heard? The eyes that had been filled with joy for the first time since returning only moments ago were now filled with sadness and welling up with tears. Behind her were Naruto and Sakura, not understanding what was happening in front of them.

By how distraught she was beginning to look, he guessed she had heard most, if not all of the conversation between Tsunade and himself. A single tear managed to escape her big green eyes and trickle down her face. The image made his gut twist in agony.

"K-Kakashi…Sensei…Why…" was all she could manage to get out.

"Sakura-chan…I—"

Before he could even think of what to say, she jumped forward, her arms wrapped tightly around him as she buried her face into his chest, sobbing loudly.

"Why? Sensei, why!?" she yelled, her voice muffled as she cried into his green flak jacket.

He had no words to give of comfort, no matter how much he wished he could say something, anything to make her stop crying and be back to the smiling girl he saw moments ago. He could only think of one selfish little thing that may make her feel better. Slowly, he brought his arms down to wrap around her and hold her tightly to him. He didn't care how it looked to anyone, he would do anything to make her stop crying.

"Please, Sakura-chan…Please don't cry." he said, all other words lost on him as he held her to him.


End file.
